The Heiress They Tried To Bury

Celeste Move

SERAPHINA'S POV

Some women use tears to build empires, but my sister Celeste used them like a loaded gun. The next afternoon, the sun was splitting the trees outside the Krenshaw Headquarters, a complete contrast to the violent storm that had shattered my composure the night before. I sat at my mahogany desk in Room 808, my fingers flying across my laptop keyboard as I reviewed the resort files. The memory of Lucius holding my wrists and his chilling parting words still lingered in my mind, but I forced the thoughts away. I had too much work to do.

Suddenly, the heavy glass doors of the executive floor slid open, and a familiar click of high heels echoed down the hallway.

I looked up through the clear glass wall separating my office from Lucius’s room. Celeste was walking down the corridor, wearing a pastel pink dress that made her look innocent and vulnerable. In her hands, she carried a beautifully wrapped, traditional lacquered lunch box. She didn't even glance toward my door. Instead, she walked straight up to Lucius’s private secretary, giving her a sweet, apologetic smile.

"Hi, I am Celeste Valecrest," she said, her voice easily carrying through the quiet floor. "I don't have an appointment, but I brought some homemade lunch for Mr. Krenshaw. I really need to speak with him for just five minutes regarding the gala misunderstandings."

The secretary looked flustered, but before she could answer, Lucius’s connecting door opened. He stood in the doorway, his jacket back on, his tie perfectly straight. His face was a mask of cold iron, showing absolutely no trace of the broken man who had looked at me in the dark last night.

"Let her in," Lucius said flatly.

Celeste’s face lit up with a brilliant, triumphant smile. She practically floated into his office, her hips swaying gently. "Oh, Lucius, thank you so much for seeing me. I know you are incredibly busy running this magnificent empire."

I leaned back in my leather chair, watching the entire scene play out through the glass wall. I didn't pull down the blinds. I wanted to see exactly what cards my sister was playing.

"You have four minutes, Miss Valecrest," Lucius said, walking back to his desk and sitting down. He didn't offer her a seat. He didn't even look at the lunch box she placed gently on the polished wood. "Speak."

"I came to apologize for the horrible scene my sister caused at the engagement gala," Celeste said, her lower lip trembling with practiced perfection as she took a small step closer to his desk. "Sera has always been so dramatic, so bitter. She wanted to hurt Roman, but she didn't care about the damage she did to the Valecrest name, or how it might affect your joint venture."

"The joint venture is completely secure," Lucius said, his voice entirely devoid of warmth.

"I know, but I worry about you, Lucius," Celeste murmured, leaning forward so her perfume could drift across his desk. "Sera is using you as a shield because she is terrified of our father. She doesn't care about your logistics project. But I do. I have studied the corporate files, and I can help you navigate the family dynamics much better than she can."

She reached out, her manicured fingers hovering just an inch away from his hand on the desk. "If you let me replace her in this partnership, I can ensure the Valecrest board gives you everything you want. And we can do it without all the messy public scandals."

Lucius didn't pull his hand away. He simply stared at her fingers as if they were an unpleasant insect that had landed on his paperwork. Then, slowly, he raised his stormy grey eyes. He didn't look at Celeste.

Instead, he looked directly through the glass wall, his gaze locking onto mine with an intensity that made my breath hitch. He wanted me to see exactly how he dealt with trash.

He reached out and pressed the button on his desk intercom.

"Security," Lucius said, his eyes still fixed entirely on my face through the glass. "Come to the eighty-eighth floor immediately. There is a trespasser in my office soliciting corporate favors."

Celeste froze, her hand snapping back as if she had been burned. Her brilliant smile shattered, her eyes widening in absolute shock. "Lucius? What are you doing? I am the daughter of the Valecrest Group. I brought you lunch. I am trying to save your investment."

"Your four minutes are up," Lucius said, completely ignoring her words. He picked up his fountain pen and began signing a document, treating her as if she had already vanished from the room.

The glass doors slid open, and two massive, burly security guards in dark uniforms stepped into the office. "Mr. Krenshaw?"

"Remove this woman from the building," Lucius commanded, his tone completely flat. "Revoke her guest pass permanently. If she ever enters the lobby again, have the legal team file a restraining order for corporate harassment."

"Right away, sir," the lead guard said, stepping up to Celeste and placing a firm hand near her elbow. "Miss, please follow us out before we have to involve the local police department."

Celeste’s face turned from a shocked pale to a dark, furious crimson. She looked at the security guards, then at the lunch box sitting untouched on the desk, and finally she turned her head to look through the glass wall. She saw me sitting there, holding a cup of tea, watching her humiliation with a calm, unblinking stare.

The mask of the innocent, sweet sister fell off completely. Her features twisted into an expression of pure, unadulterated hatred. She yanked her arm away from the guard, her heels clicking violently against the hardwood as she stormed out of Lucius’s office and through the corridor.

She slammed the glass door of Room 808 open, stepping inside my office for a brief, burning second.

"You think you’ve won, don't you?" Celeste hissed, her voice vibrating with a terrifying, wild rage. "You think because you have this monster protecting you, you can take everything that belongs to me? You ruined Roman, you stole my executive title, and now you are laughing at me."

"You brought this on yourself, Celeste," I said, setting my teacup down with a soft, steady clink. "You came into a den of lions wearing a lamb's skin. Lucius doesn't play the games Roman plays."

"I am going to make you pay for this, Sera," Celeste whispered, her eyes burning with a lethal promise as the security guards caught up to her, firmly guiding her toward the elevator bank. "I am going to take everything from you. I will drag you down into the dirt where you belong."

"I'd love to see you try," I replied, not moving an inch.

The elevator doors slid shut, cutting off her furious glare. The floor went completely quiet again. I looked back through the glass wall, and Lucius was still watching me. He gave me a single, slight nod of his head, a silent acknowledgment that the trash had been successfully cleared for the day, before he went back to his paperwork.

I leaned back in my chair, my heart beating with a fast, heavy rhythm. I had used him as a shield, and he had performed perfectly. But I knew Celeste. She was lazy when it came to corporate work, but when she was humiliated, her malice was unmatched. She wouldn't just run home to complain to our father. She was going to strike back, and she was going to do it quickly.

Down in the marble lobby, Celeste marched past the staring receptionists, her chest heaving with every step. She pushed through the heavy glass revolving doors, stepping out onto the hot, crowded city sidewalk. The humiliation was choking her, burning through her veins like poison.

She dug her phone out of her expensive designer handbag, her fingers shaking with adrenaline as she dialed a private, encrypted number that wasn't registered to any corporate network. She pressed the device tightly against her ear, walking toward her parked luxury coupe.

The call connected on the third ring, a rough, impatient voice answering from a secure legal line.

Celeste gripped the steering wheel of her car, her face twisting into a cold, murderous smile as she looked up at the towering glass waterfall of the Krenshaw Headquarters.

"Tell Roman I am ready to do the swap," Celeste exits the building and makes a call.