Thorns Grow After Betrayal (Celeste and Chester) novel Chapter 306

As soon as Celestine finished speaking, the room fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Earlier, when she’d arrived, the finance department manager had already come out to greet her.

Celestine also spotted a few former colleagues she’d once gotten along with. Back when Chester and Joanna were being attacked online, these people had actually spoken up in their defense.

But everything changed after Merlin came back.

Because Celestine needed records spanning several years, nearly half the finance team had to pitch in. While everyone scrambled to dig up the files, Merlin made no effort to hide his sour expression or his disdain.

Pete couldn’t take it anymore. He stepped up and confronted Merlin right then and there.

But Merlin, puffed up with authority, retaliated by “accidentally” feeding all the painstakingly gathered documents into the shredder.

He declared, self-righteously and with perfect composure, “As a rule, without executive approval, internal files can’t be released to outsiders. The CEO’s wife doesn’t get special privileges either.”

He sounded perfectly reasonable, almost smug.

And then, for good measure, he turned to Celestine, his voice just loud enough for everyone to hear: “Why not just join the company again? Maybe this time you’ll get a position a notch above your old desk job, and then you’d have every right to access these files.”

His words dripped with contempt.

The rest of the staff were frozen in terror, hardly daring to breathe.

Was he out of his mind?

Merlin, meanwhile, was fuming at their weakness. What did these fools know? To him, Celestine—cast aside, yesterday’s news—was just an obstacle on the CEO’s quest for true love. His cousin had always doted on Joanna; Merlin might as well help clear the path by getting rid of Celestine.

He was already imagining how grateful his cousin would be once this was over.

But before he could bask in his imagined victory, Celestine slapped him across the face—a sharp, resounding blow.

That was when Stein arrived.

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