Thorns Grow After Betrayal (Celeste and Chester) novel Chapter 225

After he finished speaking, he glanced at the woman, noticing the flicker of tenderness on her face.

He scoffed inwardly.

Moved so easily.

What a pushover—no challenge at all.

Idiot.

Celestine sighed, resigned. “Fine, I agree.”

Ten thousand for each dish.

What a world-class sucker.

She had no intention of wasting her time playing house with him.

When the time came, she’d just order some cheap takeout and call it a day—the money was easy enough.

Despite his injuries, Lance didn’t forget his manners. “It’s late. You should head home. Be sure to get a cab—it’s not safe for a woman to walk alone at night.”

“Thank you.” Celestine hesitated, as if she wanted to say more.

Lance noticed her hesitation and asked gently, “Is something wrong?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s nothing. Mr. Blake, why did you help me?”

There it was.

Lance’s eyes flickered. “It was nothing, Miss Selwyn. I meant no harm.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Celestine said quickly. “You helped me get away from Zeke, and you saved both me and my friend. But you know who I am. I also know how you feel about Joanna. I just don’t understand…”

Lance’s face was pale, but he managed a strained smile. “Miss Selwyn, you forget—Joanna is a dear friend of mine. Chester is, too. I couldn’t just stand by and ignore his wife.”

It was perfectly normal for her to be suspicious.

What he feared was her silently accepting his help, leaving him nowhere to make his next move.

Winning Celestine over was turning out to be much simpler than he’d imagined.

Like now—after he finished talking, her eyes lit up, full of gratitude.

There was no way she could fake that level of sincerity.

Celestine walked him back to his hospital room and didn’t leave right away.

She waited until dawn, making sure Lance’s injuries hadn’t worsened, before quietly slipping out of the hospital.

The moment she left, Lance opened his eyes.

Pathetic—doing all these pointless things.

There was a call button right by his bed; if he needed anything, he could just press it and a nurse would come.

Anyone who bought it was a fool.

If he could act, so could she—in fact, she’d go all in.

After watching Joanna’s dramatic performances all these years, she figured the only thing she needed now was a crash course in crying on cue.

Celestine checked in with Crystal Lennox.

The thugs had been arrested.

Mirabelle had been picked up by Denton late last night.

Crystal sighed. “Those guys were weird. The moment the cops showed up, they confessed to everything—and admitted they were the only ones who beat up Lance. Never seen anything like it.”

“Standard tactic,” Celestine replied with a smirk. “They’re hoping for a lighter sentence.”

So they could get out and spend the hush money Lance had paid them.

She shared her suspicion with Crystal over the phone.

Crystal cursed under her breath.

“Disgusting! That two-faced jerk. He and Joanna deserve each other—let them tear each other apart.”

“It’s fine,” Celestine said, glancing at a new friend request on her phone. Her lips curled into a smile. “I’ll keep playing along. Ten thousand per dish, after all.”