Chapter 6
1001 Words
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Chapter Twelve: No Room for Apologies
The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting a cold white glow down the endless corridor of polished marble and glass. Everything about the law firm felt clinical, sterile—an illusion of order hiding the mess beneath. Celeste Navarro walked through it like she didn’t belong, and maybe she didn’t anymore.
Gone was the fresh-faced intern in her low kitten heels and plain blazer. The woman walking now wore sharp stilettos that clacked confidently with every step. Her dark coat hugged her frame, tailored and commanding, and beneath it, a silk blouse the color of spilled wine peeked through. Her hair was perfectly twisted back, not a strand out of place, and her makeup was sculpted like armor—eyes rimmed in kohl, lips painted in a bold shade Ash had once said reminded him of danger.
And then there was Eli. Waiting by the elevator like a ghost from a simpler life.
His sleeves were rolled up, a sign of stress he probably didn’t even notice anymore. He looked up when he heard her approaching, shoulders stiffening slightly. For a moment, there was something almost human in his expression—nostalgia, maybe. Or regret. She didn’t care enough to label it.
“Hey,” Eli said quickly, voice low but urgent. “We don’t need to talk. I just—”
He reached for her hand. That same old instinct.
But the moment his fingers grazed her, Celeste recoiled like his touch had scalded her.
“Let go of me,” she said sharply, ice laced through every syllable.
His hand dropped as if stung. “Celeste—”
“This is not the time, Eli.” Her arms folded across her chest, the sleeves of her coat pulling taut. “If you don’t want to cooperate, I’ll ask Marcus to reassign me. I don’t need dead weight on this case.”
The words sliced, clean and precise.
Eli blinked, like he hadn’t expected the venom. “I’m not trying to fight you.”
She arched a brow. “Could’ve fooled me. You’ve been combative since day one.”
His jaw tightened. “This case is—complicated. I didn’t expect it to bring us back together like this.”
Her laugh was short, humorless. “Back together?” She leaned in slightly, voice low but dangerous. “This is business, Eli. You’re just a name on the same file.”
He swallowed hard, searching her face. Maybe for the girl who used to laugh at his terrible coffee choices or fix his tie before meetings. That girl was gone.
“You’re different now,” he said finally.
“Good.” She didn’t blink. “Different means I finally stopped being everyone’s fool.”
Eli's gaze dropped. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I didn’t expect to see you like this. So... changed.”
“You mean confident? Capable? A threat?” Her voice softened just enough to mock him. “Or do you just miss the girl who would’ve let you lie to her and still smiled like nothing happened?”
He flinched. That was the blow. The one she’d meant to land.
“Celeste—”
“No,” she cut in, the air between them thickening. “You don’t get to say my name like that. Not when you cheated in our apartment and left me to find out by accident.”
His lips parted to explain, defend, but he couldn’t. There was no excuse. She watched him flounder in silence and took a kind of cold satisfaction in it.
Then his eyes narrowed slightly, shifting tones. “Is it him? De Luca?”
She raised her chin, unapologetic. “Yes.”
“You’re sleeping with him,” he said, like it was an accusation.
She smiled. “I am.”
He scoffed, bitter. “You really think he’s better?”
“No,” she said, stepping closer. “I know he’s worse. But at least he never pretended to be good.”
Eli looked like he’d been slapped.
Celeste’s breath came easy now. No stuttering, no nerves. Just steady fury wrapped in silk.
“You don’t get to judge me, Eli. Not when I was loyal to you. Not when I gave you everything I had, and you treated me like a backup plan.”
His throat worked around words he couldn’t say. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“You did it anyway,” she replied. “And then you watched me fall apart and said nothing.”
A long pause. The elevator behind him pinged softly, but neither moved.
He finally lowered his gaze. “I’m sorry.”
Celeste took a deep breath, then nodded once. “So am I.”
She turned, her heels slicing across the tile. She didn’t look back.
As she walked away, her phone buzzed in her coat pocket. She already knew who it was. Ash never waited long when she was in the lion’s den. He worried in his own quiet, calculating way.
She stepped into the elevator, pulled out her phone, and saw his name flash across the screen. She raised her eyebrows it was an unknown number, but she brushed it off.
ASH: Everything alright, dolcezza?
Celeste stared at the message for a beat, then typed back.
CELESTE: Handled. I’ll be back soon.
She slipped the phone away and caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirrored elevator wall.
Not the law student she once was.
Not Eli’s ghost.
She was something else now—sharper, colder, and forged in the hell. She is not the spawn of Satan but the devil's advocate. A much fiercer, merciless woman that honed in the very hell she was in the past. It made her stronger more resilient than she was was. She was proud of it. She was the unstoppable force that was caged in her ex's embrace
And Ash had taught her how to survive it.
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- Writer
