Chapter 4

"What are you doing here?" Damien's cold voice sliced through the air. Celeste looked up to see Damien standing beside Lucy, with Lucian at their side. The three of them stood close, looking like a picture-perfect family. Lucy blinked in surprise, then let out a sigh. "Ms. Morin, there's no need for this. If you wanted to see Damien, you didn't have to wait for him at the hospital. "You just got out of prison—this kind of behavior won't do your image any favors." She came all this way just to see them? Did that mean she regretted not coming home with them? Lucian's heart gave a hopeful little leap, but then he remembered what Celeste had said before and pouted. "Mom, you're such a hypocrite. You say you don't care, but you can't stay away from me and Dad. You clearly want to come home." Damien let out a mocking smile. "And here I thought you finally grew a spine. You refused to return to the Wrenford residence, yet you couldn't even last two days before running after us. Still as pathetic as ever, Celeste—" However, he didn't get to finish. "Ms. Morin, here's your medication," the doctor interjected, handing Celeste a small bag of pills. He shot a sharp look at Damien and the others, clearly remembering her injuries. "What are you all doing just standing here? Don't block the hallway—my patient needs to get her medication." Celeste's cold gaze swept over them. "Do you understand plain words? I'm here to pick up my pills. You guys, on the other hand, might want to get your heads checked." Damien's expression darkened, and he frowned slightly. Celeste was sick right after getting out of prison? Could something really have happened to her in there? Celeste turned to leave, but Lucian suddenly pursed his lips and reached for her hand. "My graduation's in a few days. Even if you're mad, you should still come. After all, you're still my mom." The last word came out in a whisper, and he stole a quick glance at Lucy, as if afraid she'd be upset. But Celeste didn't even look at him. She pulled her hand away and said coldly, "You've got the wrong woman. I'm not your mother." With that, she turned and started to walk off. Lucy's voice rang out behind her. "Ms. Morin, I understand it's hard coming back after being in prison. But that doesn't excuse you from your responsibilities as a mother. "You've abandoned your child for three years. Are you really going to keep pretending that Lucian doesn't exist?" Her voice was loud—deliberately so. Immediately, countless eyes turned to Celeste. The words "prison" and "abandoned" hung in the air like stains, sparking a wave of murmurs as people began whispering around them. Then, from the edge of the crowd, a police officer stepped forward and approached Lucy. "Ms. Vale, we received a report regarding two stolen guardian gargoyles. They're the same ones featured on a show about your home. Please come with us for questioning." Gasps rippled through the corridor. Damien frowned. Was Celeste back at Aviso Tower? Lucy's face went pale, then flushed red. Before she could say anything, Celeste coughed. Her pale face was cold and detached. She looked at Lucian. "He's nine. If he wants to choose someone else to call 'Mom,' that's his right. But I also have the right not to be his mother." The law required her to pay child support—nothing more. It didn't demand that she love him. Then she turned to Lucy. "As for you, Ms. Vale... those guardian gargoyles are legally mine. "Not even my husband had the authority to give them away. If you can't return them, then maybe you should get used to a jail cell." Damien grabbed her wrist. The moment he touched her, he froze. Her wrist felt frighteningly thin, and her skin was burning hot. She was having a fever. But quickly, he snapped out of his daze. "Are you done humiliating yourself? Yeah, you were in prison for three years—so what? "That doesn't give you the right to get the cops involved. Those guardian gargoyles? I gave them to Lucy!" "Yeah!" Lucian added. "If it weren't for Great-Grandpa and Lucy telling me to give you a chance, I never would've accepted you as my mom in the first place. And now you're treating her like this?" She'd even refused to come to his graduation. Lucian's chest burned with frustration. But beneath the anger, there was a flicker of doubt. The mom he used to know would never have been this cold. She would've done everything to win him over—she would never have missed his graduation. It was as if she had become a completely different person. As Celeste listened to their accusations, all she felt was a dull numbness and a bitter sense of irony. Maybe, to them, those three years in hell meant nothing. Lucy's wounds seemed to matter more than anything she'd suffered. The fever blurred her vision, and her legs barely held her up. Celeste yanked her wrist free and looked Damien dead in the eye—then laughed. "You're disgusting, Mr. Wrenford. Since you think that prison's no big deal, why don't you try it sometime?" Her voice was sharp and bitter, nothing like the woman she'd been three years ago. Damien stood there, stunned. After leaving the hospital, Celeste wiped her hand where Damien had touched her. Only one thought echoed in her mind. She needed to finalize the divorce as soon as possible. Every second spent tangled up with Damien was pure agony. Lucy's interrogation lasted all night. Celeste, meanwhile, simply took her pills and went to bed. When she woke up, still groggy, the first thing she saw was Annie, rushing in, looking travel-worn and worried. "You just got out, and now you've got a raging fever?" Annie's face was exasperated. "You were burning up and almost hit 104 degrees. Luckily, it's gone down now." She handed her a glass of water and some pills."If you need anything, just say the word." Celeste didn't want to talk about what prison had done to her. But seeing Annie, unchanged after all these years, warmed her, just a little. Damien and Lucian were no longer people she could count on. But at least, she still had a friend. She swallowed the pills, then lowered her gaze. "Help me draft the divorce papers. And I need you to help me find someone."