Chapter 614
“Celeste, tell me the truth. What is going on here? You explicitly told me you called in every favor and went to immense lengths to secure this private collection. How could it… how could you own it p>
Under the crushing weight of everyone’s stares, Celeste quickly masked the panic in her eyes.
She rapidly composed herself, plastering on her signature look of fragile helplessness, on the verge of tears.
Even backed into this lethal corner, she refused to surrender. Her acting was flawless, not betraying a single crack.
“Eleanor, please, you cannot believe this forged evidence p>
She blinked rapidly, her tears falling fast and heavy.
“The Sterlings have given me the world. You and Helena treated me like your own flesh and blood, and Jarred protected me as I grew up. Everything I have, you gave me. I had no one, I was entirely alone, and you took me in and cherished me. How could I ever be so ungrateful to plot against you and harm you? These are all lies Sienna fabricated to frame me! She is targeting me p>
Her tearful, impassioned plea, dripping with grievance and devotion, instantly plunged the ward into a dead silence.
No one in the room responded.
Helena lay halfway up in her bed, her crooked mouth twitching.
Her clouded gaze swung helplessly between Celeste and Sienna, no longer even able to muster a slurred insult.
Eleanor’s hands shook uncontrollably around the documents, her lips trembling.
Seeing this, a faint glimmer of triumph flashed in Celeste’s eyes.
She immediately rolled her wheelchair forward, clumsily closing the distance to Jarred.
Her slender fingers tentatively grasped his sleeve.
She looked up at his cold profile, tears streaming down her face, her eyes filled with raw expectation.
“Jarred… we grew up together. We spent every day together. You know my character better than anyone, right? You believe me, don’t you p>
She was absolutely certain that Jarred would consider their years of history and the life debt he owed her, and take her side.
Jarred looked down at her.
The light in his striking eyes was as cold as solid ice.
He lowered his gaze, his eyes lingering on the fingers clutching his sleeve for two long seconds.
Then, he slowly looked back up at her tear-streaked, beautiful face. When he spoke, his voice was flat and utterly devoid of warmth
“Are you really so sure I know you p>
That single sentence instantly obliterated all of Celeste’s confidence.
Celeste’s fingers went rigid.
In his freezing eyes, she saw something she had never witnessed before.
It was like a scalpel slicing right through her pitiful facade, exposing the rot she had fought so desperately to hide
His scrutiny held no anger, no disappointment.
It was just a clean, total dissection of her soul.
She opened her mouth, but it felt like cotton was jammed down her throat; not a single syllable would come out.
Watching this from the sidelines, Sienna’s smirk deepened.
She took a half-step back, leaning casually against the edge of the bed.
She watched Celeste’s long-overdue panic set in, letting a few beats pass before she spoke in a lazy drawl.
“Actually, you’re right. If you were just the simple adopted daughter of the Carlyles you would have absolutely no motive to harm them p>
Everyone’s eyes snapped back to Sienna.
Celeste’s spine went visibly rigid.
Sienna kept her eyes locked on Celeste, her tone steady and deliberate. “But what if your last name is Ziegler p>
Boom.
It felt as though all the oxygen had been violently sucked out of the room.