She scoffed. “Women like you are a dime a dozen—waiting to leech off anyone you can. You have my husband wrapped around your finger, and now you’re after my son. Using your child as an excuse to latch onto mine.”
Heat rushed through me. “You’re wrong about me,” I said, my voice trembling despite my effort. “I don’t want his money?—”
“That’s what they all say,” she cut in coolly. “Just remember this: I decide who gets to be with my son. He listens to me. He always has. And he always will.” Her mouth curved into something cruel. “You will never fit in with us. Don’t even try.”
I knew then that acceptance from her wasn’t going to be difficult—it felt impossible.
The morning of Caleb’s birthday, when he had hugged me and told me he loved me, the words burned on my tongue. What was wrong with me? I had never felt anything like this before—the intensity, the passion, the way he made me feel seen all at once.
When he called my sonour sonon his birthday, the wordourlingered long after he said it. And I realized how much I wanted it to be true.
Maybe that was why I was afraid. Because it was so different, so real, that I was terrified saying it would somehow ruin everything. But how could it spoil anything if I told him I loved him?
Still, I had hesitated.
Eleanor’s disapproval at Caleb’s birthday party was impossible to miss, and her cruel remark to Caroline had made it clear she was hoping I’d disappear.“It’s not what you think, Caroline. She’ll be gone before you know it.”Caroline had tried to reassure me, but her hesitation—and the tremor in her voice—made me question her sincerity. Randall’s quiet support had only intensified the truth I’d been holding back.
I loved Caleb, and I would tell him soon—very soon—while the words were still mine to give, before the world found a way to take that choice from me.
A week had passed,and I hadn’t seen Caleb. We’d planned the weekend together, but Friday arrived without him. I dropped Lucas off at Elle’s for a sleepover, kissed his hair, and drove home alone.
When I woke early Saturday morning, I was in love.
The feeling clung to me like warmth after a good dream. I hummed as I made breakfast.
The dream replayed itself in fragments—me in a wedding dress, light and ivory, flower balls suspended like constellations, candles flickering beneath trees strung with golden lights. Chairs arranged in perfect rows. An aisle waiting.
Caleb at the end of it.
“I Belong to You”byJacob Leeplayed softly as I walked toward him, the future unfolding like a promise, frame by frame.
In the dream, I didn’t hesitate.
I didn’t doubt.
I said the words easily.
I love you.
They echoed in my chest even after I woke, tender and certain.
At 10 a.m., exactly as planned, I drove to his penthouse. Martina and Taylor weren’t there when I entered, but it didn’t register as strange. Nothing could touch my mood. I ran up the stairs, my smile unstoppable.
“Caleb!” I called. “I want to say something to you—something important. Something I’ve wanted to say for a while!”
I was practically glowing.I love you. I love you. I love you.
The words looped in my head, stitched together with flashes of the dream.
I reached his bedroom door and pushed it open.
And everything shattered.
I froze.
My breath left me in a single, violent rush. My vision narrowed, and my pulse roared in my ears.
Caleb was holding Caroline.
