Chapter 3
By the end of dinner, Callum was completely hammered.
Concerned about him driving in that state, Sebastian insisted they spend the night. Cassie quietly asked one of the household staff to help her get Callum’s dead weight up the stairs to their guest room.
After cleaning him up and getting him into bed, she killed the overhead light, leaving only the soft amber glow of the bedside lamp. She sat on the edge of the mattress, watching his face in repose–so handsome, so familiar, and now so utterly unknown to her.
Before long, Callum stirred, his bloodshot eyes focusing hazily on her silhouette. He reached out with clumsy hands, pulling her against his chest.
“Laurina,” he slurred, his voice thick with longing, “you came back for me, didn’t you? You finally came back to me.”
Cassie’s entire body went rigid. The name hit her like a physical blow. She didn’t correct him–what would be the point? She wanted to hear the truth, unfiltered.
After several agonizing seconds, she managed to push words past the knot in her throat. “What about you? Tonight… all that drinking… who was that for?”
“It’s you, Laurina. God, it’s always been you.” His voice cracked with raw emotion. “How can you not understand that by now? It’s only ever been you.”
Though she’d already uncovered the truth in his study, hearing it directly from his lips was like having her heart ripped out of her chest. Every word confirmed her worst suspicions.
Now she understood why Callum Reid–who claimed alcohol gave him migraines and never drank in her presence–had knocked back glass after glass tonight. He’d been terrified of exactly this scenario: that liquid courage would dissolve his carefully constructed facade and reveal his true feelings.
Her lungs felt crushed in a vise, unable to draw breath. She had to escape his embrace or suffocate.
Two hours. That’s how long she sat locked in the bathroom, huddled on the cold tile floor, trying to piece herself back together. When she finally managed to compose herself enough to re–enter the bedroom, she discovered
Callum was gone.
Crossing to the door, she noticed the motion–activated lights on the balcony had just clicked off.
Moving with silent, deliberate steps, she approached the window. Through the glass, she could make out silhouettes standing close together in the darkness–Callum and Laurina.
The night concealed their expressions, but their voices carried with devastating clarity.
“You told me yesterday you weren’t going back to Europe,” Callum said, his voice raw and desperate. “What changed your mind overnight? Was it seeing me with her?”
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Chapter 3
“And what about you?” Laurina countered, eerily composed, “Why did you marry my niece without ever telling me? How could you do something so… twisted?”
Her calm seemed to shatter something in Callum. Whatever tenuous control he had left crumbled completely as he grabbed Laurina’s wrist, his words tumbling out with frantic intensity.
“Why I married her? Jesus Christ, Laurina, you should know better than anyone! Look at her–she’s practically your clone! She’s your blood! Being with her was the only way I could see you without raising suspicions! Otherwise I’d still be like last week–flying to Paris, camping outside your apartment building for twenty fucking hours, just praying for a thirty–second glimpse of you!”
Each word landed like a sledgehammer against Cassie’s chest. So that’s where he’d been when her father lay dying–stalking her aunt across an ocean.
Her nails dug so deeply into her palms she felt warm blood welling up.
Laurina seemed physically staggered by his confession. “You’re completely insane,” she whispered.
“Yes! I am!” Callum’s voice rose, bordering on hysterical. “I’ve been insane since the day you walked out on me! Don’t you get that? Ten years, Laurina! Ten years I’ve loved you, and nothing’s changed! I need you near me–even if it’s just someone wearing your face as a mask. That’s enough for me to survive on memories for the rest of my goddamn life!”
The raw, unhinged anguish in his voice left an uncomfortable silence hanging between them.
After what felt like an eternity, Laurina finally spoke, her voice thick with conflict. “Callum… what about Cassie in all this? You’ve been married to her for three years. She’s carrying your child. Are you telling me you feel nothing genuine for her? Nothing at all?”
Callum actually laughed–a sound so hollow and bitter it barely qualified as human. “Laurina, wake up. She’s nothing but a stand–in–a placeholder. How could I truly love her? Even when I’m inside her, even when I’m holding her, I’m seeing your face, hearing your voice, thinking about you! It’s always been you!”
He stepped closer, his voice dropping to an intense whisper. “Cassie’s baby will be born soon. I’ve already picked the perfect name–Carina Reid. Your name merged with mine. Together forever, the way we should have been.”
Hearing this, Cassie felt ice crystallizing in her veins. The tears she’d been fighting cascaded down her cheeks in silent rivulets.
Carina Reid.
What a fucking perfect name for a child that would never exist.
She closed her eyes, memories assaulting her–his insatiable hunger for her body after they married, I. concern during her pregnancy. All of it suddenly reframed in this new, sickening context. She bit her lip until she tasted blood, holding back a scream of pure anguish.
sessive
With the last drops of her strength draining away, she braced herself against the wall and stumbled back toward the bedroom on unsteady legs.
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As their voices faded behind her, just before the bedroom door clicked shut, she caught Laurina’s final question: “Aren’t you afraid Cassie will discover what you’ve done?”
And Callum’s arrogant reply: “She’ll never find out. Even if she did, she loves me too much to ever leave. She’s too dependent, too naive. She’s mine forever.”
Never leave? Really?
Cassie pressed her palm against her now–flat stomach, a bitter smile twisting her lips.
She had already left him in every way that mattered.
She would shatter the golden cage he’d built around her and fly toward something real–toward freedom.
Never looking back.
Callum didn’t return to their room that night.
At first light, Cassie dressed quickly and silently.
Without waking anyone, she slipped out of the Brooks Estate, drove home, and immediately began processing immigration paperwork. Her father’s death had left her with more than enough money to start over anywhere she
chose.
Just as she finished the initial applications, her phone lit up with Laurina’s name.
“Cassie? I was thinking of visiting the cemetery today. I’d like to pay my respects to your father, and… maybe visit
sister’s grave while we’re there. Would you come with me?”
my
Cassie’s mother had died when she was very young, which was why her connection to her maternal relatives had always been tenuous.
Despite only a five–year age gap, she and Laurina had never been close. Their interactions had been limited to occasional holiday gatherings and family emergencies.
But since Laurina wanted to visit the graves of people Cassie loved, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse.
She picked up a bouquet of white lilies on the way and was approaching the cemetery entrance when she spotted a familiar Maserati parked nearby.
Callum.
He spotted her too, immediately exiting the car and striding toward her with that same possessive confidence he’d always shown. “Babe, why didn’t you tell me you were visiting the cemetery? I would’ve come with yo
