Chapter 45: Seth Moreau
997 Words
Bonny’s POV
“No.”
The word exploded out of me before thought could catch it.
Vanessa looked at the screen again as if hoping it would change.
It didn’t.
SETH MOREAU remained glowing on the tablet like a threat pulled from my worst memories.
My ex-fiancé.
The man who abandoned me at the magistrate’s office.
The man who cheated on me with Amelia.
The man who shattered my life—
Connected to this.
My knees nearly gave out.
Adrian’s hand closed around my waist instantly.
Steadying.
Possessive.
Furious.
“What did you say?” he asked Vanessa quietly.
Too quietly.
Dangerously quietly.
Vanessa swallowed.
“The active clearance on the executive floor is registered under Seth Moreau.”
Celeste closed her eyes briefly.
There it was.
Recognition.
She knew.
Vivienne stepped toward the desk sharply.
“My mother had no descendants named Seth.”
Celeste looked at her slowly.
“No official descendants.”
Silence detonated.
My pulse hammered violently in my throat.
“No official?” Mara repeated. “What does that even mean?”
Celeste hesitated.
Then:
“Sheila Moreau had another child.”
Everything stopped.
Vivienne stared at her.
“No.”
“It was hidden from the public record.”
“No,” Vivienne repeated, fiercer now. “That’s impossible.”
Celeste’s expression softened with something almost like pity.
“Your mother specialized in selective visibility.”
The room tilted.
Adrian’s grip on me tightened.
“You’re saying Seth is my uncle.”
“Yes.”
My stomach turned so hard I thought I might be sick.
The world suddenly rearranged itself in horrifying ways.
The timing.
The betrayal.
The wedding abandonment.
None of it random.
None of it coincidence.
---
I pulled away from Adrian slowly.
Not because of him.
Because I needed space to think.
Seth.
The man I spent years loving.
The man who knew exactly how to break me.
Had been connected to this system all along.
“How long did he know?” I whispered.
Celeste didn’t answer immediately.
Too long already.
“That depends,” she said carefully, “on which truth you mean.”
I laughed once.
Sharp.
Broken.
“Try all of them.”
---
Adrian stepped forward.
“Where is he.”
“Executive level.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
My blood went cold again.
“With who?”
Celeste looked directly at me.
“Amelia.”
Of course she was.
Of course.
I almost admired fate’s commitment to dramatic structure.
Almost.
---
Mara swore loudly.
Vivienne looked physically ill.
Naledi simply looked heartbroken.
Not for herself.
For me.
That somehow hurt more.
I looked at Celeste.
“Why?”
One word.
Loaded with years.
“Why would he do this?”
Celeste inhaled slowly.
“Because Seth grew up believing the system was inheritance.”
Adrian’s expression hardened further.
“And what exactly was he inheriting?”
Celeste’s eyes flicked toward the elevators.
“Control.”
---
Vanessa suddenly spoke.
“There’s movement upstairs.”
Adrian turned instantly.
“How many?”
“Three active signals.”
“Seth. Amelia. And?”
Vanessa zoomed in.
Then froze.
“What.”
Her voice lowered.
“The third access profile is labeled Administrator.”
Silence.
Mara folded her arms.
“That sounds evil.”
“Yes,” Vivienne whispered. “Because it is.”
---
I stared at the elevators.
My entire past suddenly stood above me in a glass tower.
Seth had known.
Maybe not everything.
But enough.
Enough to manipulate.
Enough to target me.
Enough to abandon me publicly while still remaining tied to this twisted structure.
The memories hit all at once.
His sudden interest in marriage timing.
His weird questions about my childhood.
The way Amelia always hovered near me.
Not friendship.
Observation.
I felt sick.
Naledi touched my arm gently.
“Bonny…”
“They knew me before I knew myself.”
The sentence came out hollow.
Adrian stepped beside me again.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You are not their project.”
My eyes burned.
“They made me one.”
His voice dropped lower.
“But you stopped being controllable the moment you chose your own life.”
That landed somewhere deep.
Because he was right.
The marriage at the courthouse had broken the system.
Not because it was planned—
But because it wasn’t.
They had wanted selection.
Arrangement.
Compliance.
Instead, we had accidentally fallen in love.
And chaos had followed.
---
Celeste pressed something beneath the desk.
A soft tone echoed through the lobby.
“The board knows you’re here now.”
Adrian’s eyes sharpened dangerously.
“You warned them?”
“I delayed them.”
Interesting distinction.
She looked directly at me.
“If I had alerted them immediately, you would never have entered the building.”
That chilled me more somehow.
---
The elevator doors opened.
No one had pressed anything.
A silent invitation.
Or trap.
Possibly both.
Mara looked inside.
“Well. That’s horrifyingly cinematic.”
Vanessa checked her tablet.
“Upper floor access granted temporarily.”
“Temporarily?” Adrian repeated.
“Yes.”
“How temporary?”
A beat.
“Three minutes.”
Of course.
I looked at Adrian.
“We go now.”
He studied my face carefully.
This time he did not argue.
Because he knew.
This wasn’t only about answers anymore.
This was about ending something.
---
We entered the elevator together.
Adrian beside me.
Naledi gripping my hand.
Vivienne silent and pale.
Mara ready for violence at all times.
Vanessa tracking systems.
The doors began closing.
Then Celeste spoke one final time from the lobby.
“Bonny.”
I looked back.
For the first time, genuine emotion crossed her face.
Regret.
Fear.
Maybe even hope.
“He really did love you.”
My chest tightened painfully.
“Seth?”
She shook her head slowly.
“No.”
The elevator doors closed before she finished.
But I already knew who she meant.
- Writer
