part 7
PART 7
Celeste tried one last weapon.
The engagement.
She turned to Adrian and lifted her left hand, diamond catching the boardroom light.
“We are getting married.”
Adrian did not look at the ring.
He looked at her face.
For the first time, he noticed how quickly she could change expressions depending on the room.
Tears for him.
Defiance for staff.
Fear for Walter.
Contempt when she forgot to hide it.
“We were,” he said.
Celeste went still.
Walter did not speak.
No one did.
The word were had done enough.
Celeste’s mouth opened.
“You can’t be serious.”
Adrian’s voice was low.
“I watched you humiliate an old man.”
“You thought he was poor.”
“I watched you insult the people who keep this estate alive.”
“You thought they couldn’t hurt you.”
“I watched you lie about dignity with water still dripping from his coat.”
Her eyes filled again.
“Adrian, I was scared.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“You were exposed.”
The boardroom changed then.
Not loudly.
But everyone felt it.
Adrian Vale was no longer a man being forced to choose between love and family.
He was choosing between illusion and character.
He took the engagement ring from her finger.
Celeste let him because shock had made her slow.
Her hand looked suddenly bare.
“I will return it to your family,” he said.
She whispered, “You are making a mistake.”
Walter answered before Adrian could.
“He almost did.”
Celeste turned on him.
“You humiliated me.”
Walter’s eyes sharpened.
“I stood at a gate.”
“You brought the humiliation yourself.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Miss Marrow, your car is waiting.”
Her face flushed.
“You’re throwing me out?”
Walter looked at the clock.
“No.”
“I am asking you to leave property you never respected.”
Evelyn Price gathered the proposal pages.
“The board rejects the Valehurst Dignity Initiative.”
Martin added, “Unanimously.”
Celeste stared at Adrian one last time.
“You’ll regret this.”
Adrian looked at the soaked uniform his grandfather still wore.
Then at the staff reports.
Then at the woman he had almost married.
“No.”
“I think I finally won’t.”
Marcus opened the boardroom door.
Celeste walked out alone.
No fiancé.
No proposal.
No title.
No estate.
May you like
Only the echo of her own cruelty following her down the hall.
Read the full story 👉 Adrian ends the engagement in front of the board, but Walter still has to decide whether his grandson is worthy of the estate’s future.
