Moving Out (1)

POV: Celeste

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Celeste woke up to somebody banging on her door.

"Open the door this instant!" a voice called out.

Groggy, Celeste opened the door and saw that it was Liam Valentine who was banging on her door.

"You little bastard, you actually dared to come back home," Liam told her with a disgusted tone.

"Naturally as this is my father's house." Celeste nonchalantly responded as she yawned.

Although it was pleasant watching as Liam's face twisted with anger, she would rather be asleep.

"What do you want Liam? Isn't it a little bit too early for you to be awake?" At this time he was usually recovering from a hangover somewhere.

He looked at her incredulously as if shocked by her audacity. After a pause, he said, "Father is calling you to his office immediately."

"Okay. Message delivered. Shoo shoo." Celeste immediately chased him away before slamming her door shut. If her father was calling her, then it meant she was in serious trouble, or he wanted something. Considering the last time, he saw her was when Richard Carrington had dragged his son away, she figured it was both.

She quickly dressed up as if she were heading into battle putting on black pants, a black crop top, and her black combat boots. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail with the stray pieces clipped out of the way. After double-checking that the dress and jewelry were hidden away as best as she could in the small room, she began to head to her father's study.

She briefly considered messaging Richard just in case but thinking about everything he had done for her yesterday, she decided not to. She couldn't message him for every little thing that might happen to her.

Knock. Knock.

"…Come in."

She quickly arrived at her father's study and entered at the quiet command.

When she entered, she saw that Edward Sr. was seated at his desk and staring at her with cold eyes. She examined him as he coldly stared at her, hoping to find features that would bind them together as parent and child but couldn't really see anything. Or rather she didn't want to see anything.

Similar to his other children he had black hair and bright blue eyes. Just like Edward Jr., he kept his figure trim, and he still had a full head of hair. The only difference between the two was Edward Sr's pale skin which was almost as pale as hers and his shorter height which fell somewhere between Celeste's and Edward Jr's. Even at this early time, he was dressed in a full suit, his hair was perfectly combed back, and his silver glasses were perched on his face giving him a strict look.

Celeste glanced around the office, noting the similarities between it and Edward Jr.'s. Like father like son, she supposed.

"You called for me?" Celeste asked as she stood in front of his large desk.

"You're acquainted with Richard Carrington." It wasn't a question but a statement.

Seeing that she didn't disagree, he continued, "You've finally brought some benefits to this family to make up for your cursed birth. You will ask him to forgive the Girardi girl, as we are in a partnership with their family and want to maintain a good relationship. And you will introduce him to your sisters and brothers. And bring him to the house so that I may meet him. There are somethings only men can discuss with each other."

Hearing his demands, Celeste simply snorted before replying, "I refuse. On all accounts."

"Celeste Giselle…" He warned.

"I said what I said. No." She shook her head. He wanted to use her hard-earned benefit for himself and his children?? No way! It would happen over her dead body.

"I forgave you for what you allowed to happen to your brother, but I will no longer tolerate your insolence! I am your father. I feed you! I clothe you! I am the reason for your existence."

As her father continued his rant, Celeste felt like rolling her eyes. She could almost recite everything he was going to say word for word.

When he took a breath, she interjected, "If that's all you had to tell me, may I be excused?"

"It seemed that because you got some backing, you have become overconfident. Some time alone in the basement should fix that. I'll show you that I am the final authority in this house and even if you call Richard Carrington himself, I can deal with you before he arrives" Edward Sr. coldly said.

Celeste gave him a cold grin, "Sorry Father dearest, I've made a promise so I really can't allow you to do that. Anybody that puts their hands on me will have it immediately broken. The only way I'm going there is if you knock me unconscious and drag me there and as you saw, it won't end well for those who try that again with me."

Edward Sr. examined the young woman in front of him. This was his youngest child, his accidental child born from a mistake. Seeing her fierce expression, he was reminded of her mother, a faded memory from his past. He wanted to push her into obeying his will but seeing her tense up and stand at the ready, he decided to change tactics. If being tough didn't work, he only had to switch the threat to one that worked.

"I will be calling your grandfather and letting him know about your actions. Maybe I will cut his treatment costs and his disappointment in you will finally cause him to drop dead. So, either go down to the basement by yourself or be dragged there." Edward Sr. threatened.

Seeing as how he mentioned her grandfather, Celeste narrowed her eyes in anger before spitting out her words, "If anything happens to grandfather just know I will burn this whole place to the ground. After all, I will have nothing to lose then."

The two stared at each other in a stalemate until Edward Sr. ordered, "Get out of my sight."

"With pleasure."

Before she walked out, she heard her father's faint voice, "There's a quarterly board meeting on Monday at 9 a.m. I hope that during the time you spent gallivanting and whoring yourself around, you've closed out your required contract and met your quotas.

Celeste quietly left without responding and headed back to her room. She would go find Andre Cross and finish up the contract in preparation for the meeting.

Unfortunately, when she opened the door, she saw that her room was completely ransacked. Her bedding was ripped to shreds along with the clothes and shoes in her closet. Looking closer, she saw shredded pieces of what looked like the dress she wore to the banquet lying around. Hurriedly checking beneath the bed, she saw that the box containing the jewelry was gone. She had been completely ransacked, and she could guess who the culprit was.

Why couldn't they just leave her be? Suddenly angry, she stomped over to where Callista and Bella's rooms were. Their rooms were side by side located in the eastern part of the house so they could get the most sun. Both of their doors were locked but she didn't care. She began banging on the left door and when nobody responded began banging on the door on the right.

"Open the door!" Celeste ordered.

"You little bastard. You better stop banging on my door this instant!" a voice responded. She couldn't tell if it was Bella or Callista, but it didn't matter.

"Give me back the things you took from me!" she yelled at them.

"I don't know what you're talking about. This is our house and anything that's inside belongs to us!"

Hearing the flawed reasoning, Celeste wanted to laugh. If everything in the house belonged to them why didn't they break into Edward Jr.'s room? Or even their parents and robbed them.

"Since you want to deny it, don't blame me for being rude." She replied. Distancing herself appropriately, she began kicking the door.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

On the third kick, the door swung open slamming into the wall.

"Ahhhh!"

"You barbarian!"

"If I'm a barbarian you're bloody thieves!" Celeste snarled. She looked into the room, catching both Callista and Bella red-handed. The two were causally dressed and were in the middle of trying on the jewelry pieces they had taken from her. Bella had the circlet placed on her raven black hair while Callista had on the necklace. They both stared at her in surprise as Celeste marched into the room.

Not waiting for the two to even speak, Celeste immediately demanded "Hand it over."

"You need to get out of here you gorilla freak! How could you break open the door?" Bella shrieked

"I don't like to repeat myself so this is the last time. Hand. It. Over." Celeste demanded.

"You better get out of here or I'm going to tell Daddy and he'll lock you up in the basement. Do you think you're so special because Richard Carrington brought you to an event and think you can throw your weight around? Dream on!" Callista yelled.

Seeing that they continued speaking nonsense, she decided to use actions instead of words.

She quickly approached the two and reached out to grab the necklace from Callista. As Callista tried to struggle, she quickly grabbed the girl's hands, holding her arms behind her back and restraining her.

"You bastard, let me go!" Caliista struggled hard against Celeste, but she easily held her down. As she reached out with one hand to grab the necklace Bella slammed into her and all three of them fell to the floor in a pile of flailing bodies.

Celeste quickly separated herself from the two flailing women on the floor before warning them one last time, "I'm forgiving you for ripping off my dress. You better give me back my jewelry or face the consequences."

"Ptew!" Callista spat at Celeste's face causing a glob to land on her cheek.

Celeste coldly wiped it off before chuckling darkly.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." She told them before immediately swinging her fists.

***