Chapter 3 Caroline's Return

It was on one of those nights, after her father had gone quiet and distant once more, that a knock on the door pulled Celestine from her thoughts. When she opened it, her heart stopped. Caroline, her estranged aunt-whom she hadn't seen in years-stood there, her clothes disheveled and her face drawn with exhaustion.

"You need to listen to me, Celestine," Caroline said, breathless and wide-eyed. "It's worse than you know. Your father... he's deep in this. Too deep."Celestine couldn't find her voice at first. It was as if everything around her had turned to smoke, evaporating into something unrecognizable. "Aunt Caroline... What do you mean?"

Caroline's eyes flickered nervously toward the street, as if expecting someone to be lurking in the shadows. "I didn't want to tell you, but your mother-she was part of something bigger. She wasn't just a housewife, Celestine. She was involved with an underground society that worked to stop this syndicate. She was trying to stop your father from going down this path, but she... she didn't make it."

Her aunt's words were a gut punch. Celestine's chest tightened, and she felt the ground beneath her slip away. "No... You're wrong. You have to be."

Caroline shook her head, her expression grave. "Your father wasn't the man you think he was. And now, the syndicate's after you too."

The truth settled like a weight on Celestine's shoulders. Her mother hadn't just died by accident. She'd been killed-taken out by the very people who now controlled her family's fate.