Legacy 184_The Billionaire’s Secret Heirs

Chapter 184 

 -HUNTER’S POV

 I was reviewing quarterly reports when my phone rang. Caroline’s name shed on the screen, and after three weeks of avoiding her calls, I finally picked <ol><li>up. </li></ol>

 “Hunter, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault….”

 “Caroline, what are you….”

 “I should never have let her go. I thought Aunt Eleanor’s offer was genuine, but I was so wrong….”

 My blood went cold. “Let who go? What offer?”

 “Celine! She went to Aunt Eleanor’s brunch, and I convinced her it was a good idea because I thought maybe Aunt Eleanor was finally ready to ept her, but it was a setup, Hunter. Aplete setup, and now…..”

 “What the hell are you talking about?”

 But before Caroline could exin, my office door burst open. Vincent stormed in, his face grim, holding his phone like a weapon.

 “Have you seen this?” he demanded, not bothering with pleasantries.

 He shoved his phone in my face. The screen showed a video from some socialite’s Instagram ount.

 The caption read: “Elitedies lunch gets MESSY when Hunter Reid’s baby mama crashes the party!”

 My heart stopped.

 The video showed Celine sitting at an elegant table, surrounded by women I recognized–my mother’s friends, society vultures who thrived on other people’s misery.

 Even from the shaky phone footage, I could see how pale Celine looked, how trapped.

 The audio was crystal clear.

 “Sometimes the kindest thing is to step aside. To put the needs of the people we love ahead of our own desires.”

 My mother’s voice, syrupy with false concern.

 “You’ll never truly fit into this world. There will always be whispers, always be judgment,”

 “Is that what you want? For your children to be known as Hunter Reid’s mistake?”

 Each word hit me hard.

 I watched Celine shrink smaller and smaller in that chair, watched her face crumble as these women…women I’d known my entire life…systematically destroyed her.

 And there, at the edge of the frame, was Mia. Sitting in silence, watching it happen.

 “Hunter?” Caroline’s voice came through the phone, tinny and desperate. “Are you there?” 

 “What the hell did you do?” I snarled.

 “I thought she was trying to make peace! swear to God, I would never have sent Celine there if I knew… 

 1/4 

 11:40 Mon, 18 Aug 2 ? 

 I was already reaching for my suit jacket, my hands shaking with rage.

 “Hunter, calm down,” Vincent said, stepping closer. “Think about this. Thest time you lost control in public….”

 “I’m done being calm.” My voice was deadly quiet. “I’m done standing by while they destroy the woman I love.”

 “Hunter, please,” Caroline begged through the phone. “I know you’re angry, but….”

 “I’ll deal with youter.” I grabbed my car keys from the desk. “Is Ceasar with you?”

 “Yes, he’s…..”

 “Take care of my son.” I hung up and headed for the door, but Vincent caught my arm.

 “You’re not driving anywhere in this state.” I turned to re at him, and whatever he saw in my expression made him take a step back. But he didn’t let <ol><li>go. </li></ol>

 “Fine. But I’m driving.”

 Vincent snatched the keys from my hand and walked toward the door without another word. He knew better than to argue when I looked like this.

 In the car, I stared out the window at the city rushing past, my mind racing with fury and guilt.

 “Why would she go there?” I muttered. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

 Vincent nced at me in the rearview mirror. “Maybe she had her reasons.”

 “They better be damn good ones.”

 But even as I said it, I knew why she had gone. She’d been trying to fix things, trying to build bridges with my family for our sake.

 She’d walked into that lion’s den hoping to make peace, and they’d torn her apart for it.

 While I’d been sitting in my office reviewing reports,pletely oblivious.

 The Metropolitan Club came into view, its imposing front a monument to old money and older discriminations. Vincent pulled up to the valet stand.

 “You sure about this?” he asked.

 “Completely.”

 I walked through the club like I owned it, which, considering my family’s membership fees, I practically did.

 The hostess tried to intercept me, but one look at my face sent her scurrying backward.

 I found them in the Astor Room, that nest of vipers still circling their prey. The conversation stopped dead when I appeared in the doorway.

 Celine sat frozen at the table, an envelope in front of her, her face tear–streaked and hollow. She looked up at me with such devastation that I wanted to burn the entire building down.

 “Hunter!” My mother rose from her chair, her smile perfectly organized. “What a lovely surprise. We were just…..”

 “Getting acquainted with your future daughter–inw?”

 The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. Every woman at that table recognized the tone in my voice…the same one my father had used when someone made the mistake of crossing him. <fn27ce> ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ???????s, ????s? ??s?? F?nd-Novel</fn27ce>

 2/4 

 11:40 Mon, 18 Aug 0 

 Eleanor’s smile flickered. “We were having a civilized conversation about…..”

 “About buying her off.” I picked up the envelope from the table, not bothering to hide my disgust. “How much, Mother? What’s your price for my happiness?” 

 “Hunter, you’re making a

 cene.”

 “Am I?” I looked around the table at their shocked faces.

 Margaret looked like she had swallowed a lemon. The blonde with the phone was still recording, though her hand shook now.

 Good. Let them all see this.

 “You want to know what’s civilized?” I continued, my voice carrying across the room.

 “Treating the woman carrying my child with respect. epting that I’m capable of making my own choices about my life and my family.”

 I moved to Celine’s chair and held out my hand. She stared at it for a moment, then slowly ced her fingers in mine.

 Her hand was ice cold.

 $581

 “You want to know what’s uncivilized?” I helped her stand, keeping our fingers inteced.

 “Ambushing a pregnant woman. Recording her humiliation for social media entertainment. Trying to destroy my family for your own twisted satisfaction.”

 Mia finally spoke up, her voice small. “Hunter, we were just trying to help…..”

 I turned to look at her, and she flinched backward.

 “Help? By sitting there in silence while they tore her apart? By letting thempare her to Sophia?”

 The mention of my ex sent a visible shock through the room. It wasn’t something we talked about in polite society.

 “You think I don’t know what this was?” I continued, my gaze sweeping across every face at that table. “You think I don’t recognize a coordinated attack

 when i see one?”

 Eleanor straightened in her chair, trying to regain control. “This is exactly what we were concerned about. You’re embarrassing yourself for a….”

 “For the woman I love.” My voice cut through hers like a de. “The mother of my children. My future wife.”

 I squeezed Celine’s hand tighter.

 i say

 “And if any of you ever….ever…..treat her with anything less than the respect she deserves, you’ll answer to me. And trust me when I say you

 that conversation.”

 The blonde was still holding up her phone, still recording. Vincent appeared beside her like a shadow.

 “I’d put that away if I were you,” he said, his voice conversational but loaded with menace.

 “Unless you want your husband to find out about your little gambling problem.”

 The woman’s face went white. The phone disappeared immediately.

 “Good choice,” Vincent said pleasantly.

 I looked around the table onest time, memorizing their faces.

 “Ladies,” said with mock politeness. “It’s been… educational.”

 3/4 

 11:40 Mon, 18 Aug

 I turned to leave, still holding Celine’s hand, when my mother’s voice stopped me.

 “Hunter. If you walk out of here with her, don’t expect….”

 58%

 “Don’t expect what, Mother? Your approval? Your support? Your love?” I turned back to face her, and for the first time in my life, I saw genuine fear in Eleanor Reid’s eyes.

 “I stopped expecting those things a long time ago.”

 We walked out in silence, leaving behind a table full of shocked socialites and one very shaken mother.

 In the hallway, Celine finally spoke.

 “Thank you,” she whispered. I stopped walking and pulled her into my arms, not caring who might see.

 “I’m sorry,” I said into her hair. “I’m so goddamn sorry I wasn’t there sooner.” She was shaking against me, and I could feel her tears soaking through my

 shirt.

 “Let’s go home,” I said.

 Behind us, I could hear the angry buzz of conversation starting up again, the damage control beginning. But I didn’t care what they said about this.

 Let them talk.

 For the first time in three weeks, I had done something right.

 I had chosen her.

 Publicly, definitively, without reservation.

 And I’d do it again tomorrow if I had to.

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Legacy 184