Chapter 6 - Celeste's Guest List
Celeste Vanderpool did not scream when she was angry.
Screaming suggested a loss of control.
Celeste preferred instruments.
Phones.
Invitations.
Rumors.
Men who wore suits and claimed they only handled logistics.
By noon the day after the engagement party, she sat in her father's Garden District house and watched her reflection in the black screen of her phone.
Rafferty had not called.
That was not merely insulting.
It was dangerous.
Men like Rafferty did not accidentally humiliate their future wives in front of staff. If he had done it, he meant it.
Her father, Everett Vanderpool, stood near the window with a glass of bourbon he had not touched.
"You made a spectacle over a waitress."
Celeste's eyes narrowed.
"He made a spectacle."
"Because you gave him one."
She turned.
Few people spoke to Celeste that way.
Her father had paid for the privilege.
"She is nothing," Celeste said. "A maid with bad shoes."
"Nothing can still become expensive if handled poorly."
Everett set down the drink.
"The Cain alliance matters. Harbor contracts. Port influence. Judicial insulation. I have spent 2 years making this marriage useful."
"Then make him remember that."
Everett studied his daughter.
"What did you see?"
Celeste looked away.
"Nothing."
"Celeste."
The tone made her 12 years old again.
She exhaled sharply.
"He looked at her."
Everett said nothing.
"Not like a man looks at a pretty server," Celeste continued. "Not appetite. Recognition."
That word interested Everett.
"Recognition?"
"I don't know. Something changed when he saw her."
Everett walked to the desk and opened his laptop.
"Name?"
"Fay Delacroix."
Within an hour, the Vanderpool network began moving.
Fay's landlord received a call from a man who claimed to represent a development company interested in the building. Mrs. Odette received 2 canceled contracts from clients who had suddenly become "concerned about discretion." The clinic where Josie was scheduled for surgical consultation received an anonymous complaint suggesting Fay had misrepresented income information on her assistance application.
Celeste did not touch Fay directly.
She touched everything around her.
That evening, Fay returned from the grocery store to find an eviction notice taped to her apartment door.
Her chest went cold.
Mrs. Landry stood in the hall clutching her robe.
"Baby, I didn't know. Mr. Boudreaux came himself. Said the whole building's being reviewed."
Fay removed the paper with careful hands.
Thirty days.
Legal language.
Everything polite enough to disguise cruelty.
Josie looked up from the stairs, her small face uncertain.
Fay folded the notice and put it in her bag.
Not now.
She would not let panic enter her daughter's body before bedtime.
She made soup from potatoes and onions. She helped Josie with practice cards. She told another story about boats crossing dark water.
Only after Josie slept did Fay sit at the table and unfold the eviction notice again.
Then the clinic message.
Then the text from Mrs. Odette.
Fay, call me when you can. Something's happening.
Fay knew exactly what was happening.
Celeste Vanderpool had discovered that humiliation had not been enough.
So now she had chosen pressure.
Fay opened Rafferty's envelope and stared at the check.
It could solve the eviction.
It could pay for the clinic deposit.
It could keep Mrs. Odette's company breathing for another month.
That was the terrible thing about money.
It did not only buy luxury.
Sometimes it bought air.
Fay picked up the phone.
Her thumb hovered over the number Silvano had written beneath Rafferty's note.
She hated needing help.
She hated that Celeste had trapped her in a position where refusing help might hurt Josie.
Finally she called.
Silvano answered on the first ring.
"Miss Delacroix."
"I need to speak with Mr. Cain."
There was a pause.
"Are you safe?"
Fay looked toward the bedroom where Josie slept curled around her paper boat.
"For tonight."
Silvano's voice changed.
"I'll send a car."
"No."
"Miss Delacroix—"
"No cars. No men at my door. My daughter doesn't need to wake up scared."
Another pause.
Then Rafferty's voice came on the line.
"Fay."
Hearing her name in his mouth did something unwelcome to her heart.
She tightened her grip on the phone.
"Your fiancée is trying to ruin my life."
May you like
Rafferty did not ask if she was sure.
He said, "Tell me everything."
