When shadows speak
1080 Words
The following week was filled with silence that screamed.
Celeste felt it in Damon’s tighter grip, in the way he checked his phone constantly, and in how the smiles came slower, more forced. Something was brewing—Alina’s message had shaken him. Not out of fear. But rage.
“I thought I buried this,” he muttered one morning, pacing his office. “I gave her nothing. Yet she’s still clawing for a seat in my life.”
Celeste watched him from the couch, legs folded under her, calm and steady. “She thinks she still owns a part of you. That’s what this is about.”
Damon stopped. “She never owned me.”
“Then stop letting her get inside your head like she does.”
He sighed, walking toward her. “You always sound like you’ve got fire in your blood.”
“I do,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “You’re the one who lit it.”
---
Meanwhile, Ava was in full-on conflict mode.
After her date with Jace, things had… shifted. Not drastically. But enough that every time he smiled at her, it meant more. Enough that she caught herself dressing up for gym days.
Enough that she was terrified.
Celeste noticed her pacing in the apartment kitchen and raised a brow. “Okay. Spill.”
> I don’t need the world to understand what we have. But I will not allow anyone to twist the truth while hiding behind carefully rehearsed tears.
>
> He’s not perfect. Neither am I. But we’re real. And that’s enough for me.”
The piece went viral within hours.
And Alina?
She lost it.
Alina's reaction to Celeste's post was immediate and chaotic.
Her lawyers began issuing cease-and-desist letters to bloggers who reposted the essay. She stormed into media outlets trying to get interviews pulled. But the internet didn’t forget. Screenshots spread like wildfire, and with every repost, her credibility cracked.
Damon didn’t say much, but his respect for Celeste deepened. He watched her handle the storm with grace he hadn’t expected, publicly defending him not with anger, but with unwavering poise.
“You wrote that like a queen,” he murmured that night, arms around her as they stood on the balcony.
“I wrote it like a woman who’s done being quiet.”
He smiled. “That’s even better.”
---
Meanwhile, Jace showed up at Ava’s apartment with takeout and a crooked smile.
“Thought I’d make it easier for you to fall in love with me.”
Ava gave him a dry look. “That assumes I haven’t already.”
He blinked. “Wait..”
“I didn’t say you won yet,” she added quickly, “but you’re getting dangerously close.”
He grinned and handed her a box of sushi. “Then I’m not letting go of this lead.”
As they held each other, quiet and steady, somewhere else in the city, Alina stared at her empty phone screen and finally realized, she had lost.
They ate on the couch, legs tangled, and when Jace rested his head in her lap and started talking about football like it was religion, Ava realized she’d stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop
She was in.
---
Celeste visited Evelyn that weekend. The older woman was painting in her sunroom, the canvas a soft blend of pinks and golds.
“Have you always been so calm?” Celeste asked.
Evelyn smiled. “No. I used to be like you. Full of fire, ready to burn anything that threatened my peace.”
“And now?”
“Now I understand some things aren’t worth burning… they’re worth building stronger.”
Celeste absorbed that in silence.
“You’re already stronger than you think, Celeste. Alina’s not your test. Your test is staying soft through all of this.”
---
Damon received a final, desperate message from Alina that night.
“I loved you first. She’s just your distraction.”
He didn’t respond.
Instead, he blocked the number, stood up from his desk, and walked to Celeste, who was curled up in bed with a book.
“She’s gone,” he said simply.
Celeste looked up. “For real?”
He nodded. “I’m choosing peace now. I’m choosing you.”
She placed the book aside and opened her arms. “Then come home.”
..
The next morning, everything felt… lighter.
Celeste woke to sunlight warming the sheets and Damon already in the kitchen, hair tousled, sleeves rolled up, making pancakes like he wasn’t one of the most powerful men in the country.
“You’re cooking?” she blinked.
He looked over his shoulder. “I do have some domestic skills.”
She padded over and stole a strawberry from the plate. “What’s the occasion?”
Damon smirked. “You. Peace. No lawsuits. No headlines. No ghosts.”
She leaned into his side, eyes soft. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”
He nodded. “You made it possible.”
---
At the Monroe estate, the brothers gathered for their usual Friday night chaos ,bpizza, games, shouting matches over trivia.
Ava came too.
She fit in like she always had, but now… something had shifted. Jace couldn’t stop glancing at her. And she couldn’t stop smiling.
Leo elbowed Celeste quietly. “Is he… in love?”
Celeste grinned. “Looks like it.”
Leo raised a brow. “I hope he knows what he’s doing.”
Celeste nodded. “He does. For once, he actually does.”
--
Across town, Alina sat in her penthouse surrounded by silence. The press had stopped calling. Damon had disappeared. Her name no longer trended.
She had power once. Influence.
But it had all been built on manipulation.
And it had finally collapsed.
She threw her phone against the wall.
...
Celeste ended her night on the rooftop of Damon’s penthouse, her head on his shoulder, the city below glowing like fireflies.
“Think we’ll get bored once the drama ends?” she teased.
Damon kissed her forehead. “Not a chance. I still have to win over your father.”
She laughed. “He likes you more than he admits.”
“Good. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Celeste smiled, her heart calm for the first time in weeks.
Neither of them knew what the future would hold, but they knew who they’d face it with.
And that was more than enough.
- Writer
