Chapter 14
Chapter 14
His eyes snapped open at five AM right on schedule.
Callias reached across the empty sheets, muscle memory searching for her.
Nothing.
She hadn’t come home at all.
Whatever peace he’d found shattered instantly.
Back in his own room, he collapsed onto his bed, phone in hand. Something crinkled under his pillow.
Two items.
A peace offering? Classic Skylar – whenever she’d upset him before, she’d hide little apologies under his pillow, waiting for him to discover them.
Their private ritual.
He felt a letter and what seemed to be a credit card..
The letter had to be sweet nothings – typical of her.
But the card? Maybe birthday money?
His mood lifted. The gift itself didn’t matter.
Just her remembering his birthday was enough.
The card reminded him of her exhausting herself these past weeks. Everything clicked.
She’d been planning this all along.
Was that why she was out so late? Still working?
Worry creased his brow as he remembered the dark circles under her eyes.
Leaving the letter, he took the card to his office.
“Sir, we’ve verified the balance – thirty million dollars.”
Coffee nearly sprayed across his desk.
Thirty million? For a birthday surprise?
Where had she gotten that kind of cash?
08:58
Addio To The Stand–In Past. This Time I Chose To Reclaim My Own Life
72.3%
Chapter 14
Something twisted in his gut. “Find out everywhere she’s been recently. What she bought. Everything.”
His assistant returned thirty minutes later, hovering in the doorway like she was carrying a bomb.
His heart clenched at her expression.
He straightened in his chair, folding his hands. “Out with it.”
She placed a file on his desk, eyes down.
“Miss Harrison received acceptance to the University of Florence. Her flight… it left yesterday morning. Eight AM.”
The words made sense individually but refused to form a coherent whole in his mind.
The girl who shared his home, whose breathing he fell asleep to every night, had gotten into an Italian university and just… left?
Impossible.
But the file in his hands told a different story. The acceptance letter. Used plane ticket. Visa documents.
Each page bore her elegant signature.
Reality hit him like a physical blow.
A decade of carefully controlled emotions – the mask he’d worn since childhood – shattered.
Eyes burning, he ran.
For the first time in his life, Callias Harrison broke in public.
Own Lifo
