Their Cruelest Joke Cost Them Everything Chapter 04

Their Cruelest Joke Cost Them Everything Chapter 04 The Empty Seat
Celeste’s POV: My parents were delighted that I had finally embraced Bianca’s supposed kindness. On the night before the party, two weeks later, Alessio found me packing in my bedroom. Relief softened his expression. “I have spent the past few weeks wondering whether we should go through with the engagement. You are timid, oversensitive, and determined to treat Bianca’s childish jokes as attacks.” He studied me before continuing. “But since you are giving her a present, I have decided our relationship can continue.” For a moment, I could not believe what I had heard. “You supported Bianca all this time because you were testing me?” He did not deny it. “If you cannot tolerate your own sister, how will you ever manage disputes between our families?” His impatience showed now. “And she has never caused you real harm. You are standing here perfectly fine, aren’t you?” So that was his answer. A bitter laugh stayed locked inside me, and my decision became absolute. Alessio stepped closer and closed my suitcase for me. “Tomorrow, we make our engagement official before both families. Everything before that stays in the past. I do not want to hear about it again.” Satisfied with himself, he left my room. The instant the door shut, I reopened the case and tucked in the last of my documents. He was right about one thing. The past needed to end. So did this absurd engagement. Before leaving for the party, Bianca reminded me again and again, “Take the white sedan, Celeste. White is elegant, and it is the perfect choice for your new beginning together.” My parents agreed with her. “She had it washed first thing this morning. Do not dismiss all the effort she made for you.” I answered with a smile and a nod. I had no intention of attending the party at all. Once the three of them and Alessio drove away in another black sedan, I carried my suitcase out of the estate. Before I left, I checked the white car Bianca had insisted upon. Wet paint coated the rear seat. One careless lean would have destroyed my gown. It was such a juvenile trick. I climbed into the cab waiting for me and left the estate behind. Third-Person POV: At that same moment, Celeste’s parents were receiving guests at the engagement party. To indulge Bianca’s latest whim, they had invited nearly everyone who had ever known Celeste, from former classmates to an estate guard who had met her once. All of them had been assembled to watch Bianca’s carefully edited prank reel. Alessio checked his watch. The screening was three minutes away. He leaned toward Bianca, his voice low. “Why isn’t Celeste here yet?” Bianca answered with complete confidence. “Relax. Even if she wrecked the car, she would crawl the rest of the way to get here.” A smug laugh followed. “Do you know why I have never been afraid to torment her?” Alessio turned toward her. “Why?” “I may be adopted, but Mother and Father raised me from infancy. Celeste was not brought to the estate until she was five. She has spent her whole life starving for their affection, so she will do anything to please us.” Bianca sounded completely certain. “No matter what we do, she pretends it never happened and comes back.” That had been Celeste’s pattern for years. Bianca saw no reason this time would be different. Ten minutes after the party officially began, every guest was seated, but the bride-to-be’s chair remained empty. Her parents questioned the steward and learned that the white sedan had never moved from the estate. Bianca pulled up the security footage at once. Celeste had vanished. Alessio called her over and over. Every call rang unanswered. As he searched the rooms, the family consigliere stopped him. The older man held an invitation and looked genuinely confused. “Celeste transferred management of the businesses she oversaw back to the family last week and ordered a full accounting of every asset in her name. Wasn’t she preparing to leave? Then why did everyone assume the engagement party was still going ahead?” Before Alessio could make sense of that, the ballroom screens came alive. The video began. Celeste’s parents and Bianca went white when they saw the first image.