Chapter 2 - The Night Celeste Took Everything She Could
Roman left for Boston when I was eight months pregnant.
A shipping dispute had escalated. One of his companies had been threatened with a federal seizure after a former associate leaked false records to the press. Roman told me he would be gone less than twenty-four hours.
“I don’t like leaving you here,” he said.
“I will be fine.”
He looked toward the estate windows, where rain clouds were already gathering.
“Stay inside. Keep the security detail close.”
“I am pregnant, Roman. Not a hostage.”
His mouth tightened.
“You are both.”
I touched his cheek.
“Come home soon.”
“I always do.”
The storm began that evening.
By nine o’clock, rain battered the estate windows. Thunder shook the glass. I sat in the upstairs sitting room with a blanket around my shoulders, trying to choose a name for our daughter.
I liked Elena.
Roman liked Sofia.
We had not agreed yet.
Then Celeste entered without knocking.
She wore a dark green silk dress and held a glass of wine.
“You are alone,” she observed.
“Not exactly.”
Two security guards stood in the downstairs hall. Elena, the housekeeper, was in the kitchen. The estate was full of people.
But that was the illusion.
A house could be crowded and still leave you alone.
Celeste looked at the baby-name book on my lap.
“Still pretending this child will save your marriage?”
I stared at her.
“Excuse me?”
“You have made Roman weak. Distracted. Reckless.” Her eyes dropped to my stomach. “And now you will use a child to bind him to you forever.”
“You are his mother. How can you say that about your grandchild?”
Celeste smiled without warmth.
“Because I know what pregnancy does to women in this family. It makes them believe they are untouchable.”
I stood slowly.
“Leave my room.”
She did not move.
Then the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
And went out.
The room fell into darkness.
I heard a sound in the hall.
A door closing.
Then Elena’s voice, muffled and frightened.
“Mrs. Kane!”
“Where is she?” I demanded.
Celeste stepped closer.
“You should have listened when I told you Roman’s world was not built for women like you.”
My heart began beating too fast.
“Roman will know.”
“Yes,” she said. “Eventually.”
The bedroom door opened.
Two women entered.
I recognized them as staff from the lower floor, but neither met my eyes.
“What is this?” I asked.
Celeste put down her wineglass.
“It is correction.”
They held me while Celeste took scissors from a drawer.
At first, I thought she was trying to frighten me.
Then I heard the first cut.
My hair fell across the carpet.
I screamed.
I fought.
I begged them to stop.
But they kept cutting.
Thick dark strands slid down my shoulders, onto my dress, onto the floor.
Celeste watched with the calm expression of someone arranging flowers.
“You came into this family believing you had a voice,” she said. “Roman needs to remember what you are without his attention.”
By the time they finished, my scalp burned in the cold air.
My hair was hacked unevenly, nearly gone in places.
I stood shaking in the middle of my room, one hand over my belly.
Celeste walked to the closet and pulled out my coat.
Then she tossed it onto the floor.
“No,” I said.
She opened the bedroom door.
“Get out.”
“You cannot do this.”
“I already have.”
The women forced me down the staircase.
I called for Elena, but someone had locked her in the pantry.
I called Roman’s name, though he was three hours away.
At the front door, I tried to hold the frame.
Celeste pried my fingers loose one by one.
Then she pushed me outside.
Barefoot.
In a thin cream dress.
Eight months pregnant.
Into freezing rain.
The estate gate was too far away to reach safely. My phone was inside. My feet slipped across the polished stone. Rain ran down my shaved scalp and into my eyes.
Behind the glass doors, Celeste stood watching.
I held my stomach and whispered to my daughter.
“We’re okay, baby. We’re okay.”
May you like
But I was not okay.
And deep down, I knew it.
