𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ✔️

♡ Chapter 21 ♡

July 21st.

~ Celeste POV ~

The busy traffic today seems to annoy me more than usual.

My fingers tap against the wheel, and I let out a breath of relief seeing the hotel finally come into view.

I went by myself to get us some breakfast. It sat in a brown bag in the passenger's seat, and I'd bet money that Nic is still asleep once I get back up. Lazy sack of handsome shit. 

I park the car and round it to grab the bag. The breeze blows my hair as I step up onto the sidewalk, but my steps slowly stop as I feel my phone ringing in my pocket.

My footsteps come to a stop as I look at the screen to see who it is. And when I do, I swear under my breath and look around.

I walk over to a quiet place and lean against the hotel wall behind me. I raise my phone to my ear and talk in a tone a little more harsh than I should've, "What, Hades."

"Is now a good time to talk?" his aged voice asks, but it sounds like he has something in his mouth. Probably a cigar. Or maybe a dick. 

I look around at all of the people walking by that are so busy in their own lives, they don't even look at me. 

"Yea. What's up."

I can hear him raise from his chair as he clears his throat. He asks, "How are things between you and Nic?"

"Nic?" I say in a clueless tone. "Oh! You mean, your fucking son?"

He goes silent on the other end. It makes me smile.

"He told you?" he asks, although it's nearly under his breath and sounds like he's saying it to himself.

I nod even though he can't see me, "Yea, he told me."

He mutters a string of curse words under his breath.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. The plan is still the same," he tries to keep his tone emotionless, but I can sense a bit of stress. "And how is the plan?"

I don't reply at first. I tap my finger against my upper thigh anxiously and lick my bottom lip as if that will get rid of the nerves in my stomach from what I'm about to say. 

"Yea, um, about the plan," my nerves make me stutter at first, but then I force my tone back to sound confident. "I don't want to do it."

"What?!" he shouts into the phone. 

I add, "I've changed my mind. I don't want to kill him."

He scoffs on the other end, followed by a bitter laugh.

"So, you just don't care to find out who murdered your entire family?" he asks in a tone that I know is supposed to make me feel bad. 

Of course I want to know. But I don't think I want to kill Nic to get the answer.

"How do you even know?" I ask, my voice raising a bit over the sound of traffic on the road in front of me. "How could you possibly know who killed my family?"