Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
GREGG
The terrace remains alive with activity in a way that is exceedingly cruel when I emerge from the garden.
Laughter still spills across the evening air, glasses clink and somewhere a champagne bottle pops.
The awful feeling of not belonging begins to swallow me again, absent the last few weeks.
I wipe the remaining moisture from my cheek with the back of my hand and move slowly across the lawn until I stand at the edge of it all, bracing a hand on the smooth stone balustrade at the base of the stairs. Cameron is nowhere in sight.
I can’t see past that, Gregg.
I can’t see past tonight.
His words echo in my mind. The hurt in his eyes. What have I done?
A long, silent drive back to London tonight, and he’ll be gone in the morning. A clean line drawn creating separation, a line that I’d drawn myself. I tilt my head back and take a deep breath. Blinking hard, I refuse to let myself unravel again.
“Hey.” Julian’s voice comes carefully and tells me everything. “I was looking for you.”
I turn and force my expression into something neutral.
“What’s going on?” he asks. “I just saw Cameron over there, he seems to be keeping away from everyone.”
“Always observant.” I huff out a small sound that could’ve been a laugh in another life, and force a small smile.
“Gregg? Aboki?”
My friend, he nearly undoes me.
“He’s leaving,” I say quietly, looking past him towards the garden path I’ve just emerged from.
“What do you mean he’s leaving?” Julian’s brow creases. “Leaving, as in—”
“Exactly that,” I cut in sharply, “as in tomorrow morning. Once we’re back in London.”
“Oh.” He blinks. Then, softly, “I’m sorry.”
I nod, fairly certain if I speak again I will shatter. My fingers curl into fists at my side, my fingernails bite into my palms.
Julian hesitates. “Was it something tonight?”
I laugh, sharp and humorless. “Tonight. Myself.” I turn and pause, his eyes follow mine to her.
Celeste. Radiant and unbothered, she gestures animatedly with guests as if she hadn’t just detonated something sacred.
As much as I was to blame, she is the catalyst, making my chest burn. “I need to talk to her. Now.”
“Mate.” Julian exhales slowly, reaching out for me. “I don’t think that tonight is the best place to—”
“I’m not asking for your permission.” I dodge his arm and stride up the terrace steps before he can argue, before reason can catch up with the fury inking through my veins.
“Shit,” Julian hisses as he follows after me, placing himself half a step behind like a quiet buffer.
She sees us coming and smiles. She actually smiles.
“Greggory,” she says brightly, “there you are, it’s so nice of you to join us again. I was beginning to worry.”
I don’t bother with any additional pleasantries. “You knew.”
“Knew what?” Her smile doesn’t falter.
“This was your plan, wasn’t it?”
“I’m sorry, darling.” She reaches out for my arm. “I’m terribly confused.”
“Don’t play the fool, Celeste,” I spit, grabbing her wrist as her hand approaches. “You knew that you would corner him,” I insist, my voice low in a way that surprises me. “That you would say exactly what you knew would hurt him the most.”
Julian clears his throat. “Perhaps we should—”
“No,” Celeste states, turning her full attention to me and wrenching her wrist free. “Let him speak.”
I take a sharp breath through my nose. “You couldn’t help yourself, could you? You didn't just interfere, you engineered this!”
Her eyes sharpen, amusedly, as if she were playing a game. “That’s a rather strong accusation.”
“Oh, don’t insult me by pretending this was accidental.”
“I simply told him the truth,” she explains, annoyance flashing across her face. “If that destabilized things then perhaps your connection, perhaps Cameron, was not as strong as you believed.”
Julian steps between us, and I begin to notice curious eyes around us. “Celeste, I think that the intent matters here.”
She laughs softly. “Does it?”
Heat rises within me, surging from my core. “You…” My voice cracks. “You had no right.”
“I disagree.” Celeste’s gaze holds mine unflinchingly and unrepentant.
“Of course you do. And now that he’s chosen to leave?” I ask, the words scrape out of me.
“Then it is for the better. Men like him don’t belong in our world.”
I felt the tears press hard behind my eyes, but I refuse to give her that satisfaction.
“Okay,” Julian interjects quickly. “Let’s all just take a breath—”
“You don’t get to decide that!” I snap. “You do not get to wound people simply because you’re afraid of losing control.”
“No!” she hisses with cruelty. “Do you think that you’re the first man to be like this in this world?”
My vision blurs, and I blink hard.
“I will not apologize for doing what I needed to do.”
“For whom,” I ask. “For you?”
“For you.” She sighs. “For your father, and all he’s worked to pass to you. For us.”
I laugh, broken. “Don’t lie.”
She leans in and lowers her voice. “If he leaves, this ends calmly and cleanly. No mess to clean up. No scandal.”
“You’re right,” I agree, leaning in close, locking my eyes to hers.
“This is all ending tonight. Because you’re wrong, you know that?
You did this all for you and your image.
When I told you my feelings, all you saw was an opportunity to shift the narrative back to favor you, but guess what?
I’m still gay, and I still don’t want you. ”
A beat.
“All you are is a selfish, spoiled bitch.”
Julian steps fully between us. “Hey—alright, that's enough. Both of you.”
Celeste takes a measured step back, as if she’s been struck and is trying to conceal an open wound.
Her face changes in layers. Real, unmistakable hurt is followed by disbelief.
Then anger. Cold, polished, and weaponized.
Her spine straightens and she lifts her chin, but something in her eyes stays fractured, and she laughs softly.
“You know,” her voice is gentle, “I spent our whole lives convincing myself I was indispensable to you.”
Julian tenses, but her gaze stays on me.
“And it’s funny,” she continues, “how quickly devotion can turn into inconvenience once it stops being useful.”
My chest tightens, but I have nothing to say, so I stand straight and tall.
Celeste nods slowly, arriving at a conclusion only she’s privy to. “You’re right, it is over.” She pauses deliberately. “It all ends tonight.”
Julian frowns. “What does that mean?”
She smiles at him, bright and empty. “Don’t worry, Julian. I’ll be very… honest.” Her eyes dart back to me. “I hope you enjoy the quiet while it lasts. After all, we all deserve truthfulness. Don’t you agree? Excuse me, darling.”
She turns and disappears into the crowd, her heels clack across the stone like punctuation. I feel like I should be frozen by the fear of the unknown that she’s just laid out. But I don’t care. I just need to find Cameron.
Julian grips my shoulder. “Hey. Gregg, look at me.”
“Cameron didn't deserve this,” I whisper. “I should’ve protected him.”
“Then let's go find him.”
Julian and I scan the crowd like we’re searching through wreckage.
Every face blurs together in laughter and indifference, and then I see him.
Cameron stands in the far corner, half hidden by a cluster of potted Italian cypress trees.
A glass of water cupped in both hands keeps him upright, his shoulders are tense and his jaw is locked.
His gaze is absently staring through the crowd somewhere into the darkness.
He looks like his soul had been emptied out, yet, the sight of him steals the air from my lungs.
“There he is,” I observe, already moving.
Julian nods. “I see him.”
I take three steps before a hand claps against my shoulder and steers me to the side. “Greggory,” Kenneth Franklin booms. “There you are!”
I turn, my pulse spiking. He stands there with his bushy gray eyebrows raised as he smiles knowingly. Evelyn Porter is beside him, just as sharp-eyed and predatory as I remember her from New York.
Not now, my brain screams, glancing toward Cameron. Instead, I choke out a weak greeting. “Kenneth. Evelyn. I trust you’re enjoying yourselves.”
Kenneth follows my line of sight briefly, then steers me toward the house, Evelyn flanks my other side. “Oh, it’s a wonderful night, but listen, we won’t take long.”
“Paris,” Evelyn declares, unbothered with pleasantries. “Regal Crown. Are you ready to commit?”
“I—” The words hit me like a slap. I look back over my shoulder at Cameron. He’s shifted and is rubbing at his temple, his eyes closed briefly. “This isn’t exactly the best moment.”
“Ah, there rarely is a perfect one.” Kenneth’s smile tightens.
Julian sidesteps alongside, trying to get in front and offer his hand. “Excuse me, Julian Eze. We haven’t had the pleasure of meeting. Our Greggory has been hosting all evening, perhaps—”
“With respect,” Evelyn interrupts coolly.
“This is the moment. Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor and certainly doesn’t wait for convenience.
” Her eyes pin me down. “Kenneth and I, Regal Crown, we’re prepared to make you a partner.
Paris simply opens the door to capital and influence.
Don’t hesitate when momentum presents itself. ”
“Partner?” I repeat. “Me? What’s led this on from our last conversation? Kenneth, you told me you were a senior advisor looking for help. Something like this, you’d need to be—”
“On the board of directors,” he professes, shrugging nonchalantly.
My head spins. “Kenneth, Evelyn, I appreciate the offer. Truly. It’s just that tonight’s been, well, complicated, to say the least.”
Kenneth studies me, his eyes sharp. “Son, I’ve built my career on reading hesitation, and I don’t chase.”
“He’s not saying no.” Julian tries again.
“Truly, I’m not,” I agree quickly, taking a step back. “I just can’t give you an answer right this moment.”
“Big things follow people who hold the power to be decisive,” Evelyn states, crossing her arms.