2025-06-16 22:22:21Why, you are asking me why? Well!" Diana shrieked, her voice sharp and laced with an icy fury that sliced through Caleb's drunken haze, and when she realised nothing happened he was just a drunk man she scolded. "Get out! Disappear before my brother gets here! He'll completely misunderstand this!"
Caleb blinked, his vision blurring. "What's happening? What happened? Why did you slap me?Where am I?Why disappear?" His words slurred, thick with alcohol and confusion. He tried to push himself up, his body protesting with a fresh wave of aches.
Despite her anger, the sight of his battered state seemed to override her fury, the raw, bleeding gash on his palm, and the swelling rapidly blooming on his face from the bouncer's beating. Her doctor's instincts kicked in, momentarily overriding her panic. She knelt beside him, her brow furrowed with professional concern.
---
"Hold still"" she muttered, pulling a small first-aid kit from a drawer. She dabbed at the blood on his palm, her touch surprisingly gentle. "Nothing happened, alright? I think You were just… you came into the wrong room. And I lashed out. I'm sorry." She sighed, her gaze softening slightly as she met his bewildered eyes. "You clearly need a hospital, but you can't be found here. Not like this."
She worked quickly, cleaning the cut on his hand and applying a bandage, then gently inspecting his bruised face. "Here," she said, finishing. "I've gotten you patched up for now. Take this and leave. Here's my contact information, just in case you want to get it properly checked at the hospital later." She pressed a sleek business card into his uninjured hand.
Caleb clutched the card, still disoriented, and speechless
Diana froze, her eyes darting to the door fear gnawed at her. Her brother, Michael, had been relentlessly watching her, hoping to catch her in any misstep that would justify his own agenda with their father. If he walked in now, her life would be over.
She looked at Caleb’s dazed eyes. "Listen to me again, you need to snap out of it, nothing happened between us, I fixed you up because I couldn't ignore you so don't misunderstand" . "
"But... why, Who? Why ?" The incomplete questions tumbled out, he was lost in the situation, he didn't even know what to say, everything was moving so fast he couldn't make sense of it.
Diana Reed had to think fast. "No question, get out now, hurry!" she urged, her voice low and urgent. She placed her hands on his shoulders, physically pushing him towards the door. "Hurry and get out before my brother or father sees you!"
Still shirtless and dazed, Caleb stumbled into the brightly lit hallway, fumbling with his belt. He clutched his own work jacket in one hand, and in the other, without realizing it, Diana's silk robe, mistaking it for his own shirt. The corridor was long, lined with expensive art. He just needed to get to the service exit.
As he shuffled away, a new set of footsteps approached. Michael, Diana’s brother, rounded the corner, a smirk already forming on his face. Behind him, Mr. Reed, their father, walked with a measured, imposing stride.
"Look, Father! There's a man coming out of Diana's room!" Michael gesture wildly, snapping a photo of Caleb’s retreating, back with his phone. He turned to show his father, but in that brief moment, Caleb, still moving sluggishly, had managed to slip into a service stairwell and disappear.
"Hurry!" Michael ordered his private guards, already pulling up the photo of Caleb he'd just taken. "Look for the man wearing this! Find him!" The guards, well-trained and efficient, fanned out immediately.
Caleb successfully escaped the Drip complex, his drunken state ironically aiding his clumsy evasion. He still didn't remember exactly what had happened. He just knew he had to get home.
On his way, still astride his bike, he spotted a familiar figure in the pre-dawn light: Mr. Reyson, his boss from Drip club, standing by the roadside, looking impatient.
"I was about to go look for you," Reyson grumbled, holding out a white envelope. "Here. This is your payment for the few hours you worked. Don't show your face around here again. You're fired."
Caleb stared at the envelope, then at Reyson’s disgusted face. The words "fired" hit him harder than the blow from the bouncer. Something clicked. He looked down at himself, confirming he was shirtless beneath his open work jacket. He wasn't wearing his shirt; he was clutching a soft, silky fabric that definitely wasn't his. Part of the memory started to return: the tequila, the fall, the blurry faces, the beating. He clutched Diana's card in his hand, a strange mix of confusion and a faint recognition of his predicament beginning to dawn. He remembered being fired, but the events in the room were still a gaping hole.
---
Meanwhile, back in the hotel suite, Mr. Reed turned to Diana, his face stern.
"Who was that young man that just walked out of your suite?" He questioned
"Who?, father are you sure you are not mistaken?" Diana tried to write it off but her brother
Michael eagerly showed his father the blurry side-profile picture of Caleb on his phone.
"He looked so poor, Father," Michael sneered, "and so dirty, I told you but you didn't believe, she sleeps around with different men."
Diana’s gaze hardened. She knew this was Michael’s play to force her hand regarding the arranged marriage. She also knew her father's rules.
"Fine," Diana said, her voice surprisingly steady, considering the tremors in her hands. "You caught me. He is my lover." She met her father's eyes directly. "And I don't want to marry the person you've set me up with. In fact, I don't want to get married at all right now."
Mr. Reed's eyes narrowed. "Find the mysterious man, Michael," he instructed his son, his voice low and dangerous. "If he turns out to be exactly what you thought—give him money, and make him disappear from her life." He turned back to Diana, his expression unyielding. "This is the last warning from me, Diana. By the end of next month, I want you to present the man you intend to marry. Otherwise, you will marry the one we've planned for you."
He delivered the ultimatum, knowing full well that he had just instructed Michael to ensure Caleb would never
be seen near Diana again, thereby forcing her into the pre-arranged marriage.
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Latest Chapter
245- The end
Rose was fully recovered. The doctors had discharged her a week ago, and the quiet comfort of the main penthouse felt like a sanctuary after the sterile white walls of the hospital. Her recovery was more than just physical; it felt like a healing of the entire family. The old, festering wounds of silence, ambition, and misunderstanding, which had almost destroyed them, were finally closing. Rose, in her quiet strength, became the living symbol of their resilience.She sat on a plush armchair by the wide window, a wool blanket draped over her knees, watching the sprawling cityscape come to life as the morning sun climbed.A gentle knock preceded the opening of the door, and Caleb entered, holding two mugs of tea. His hair was grayer now, but his eyes held a softness that had replaced the sharp, guarded look he’d worn for decades. Diana followed him, a familiar, easy grace in her movements.“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Diana murmured, leaning down to kiss Rose’s forehead.“It’s barely se
244
Six months had passed since Rose had opened her eyes. The physical recovery had been grueling, marked by painful physiotherapy and the constant presence of scars—both visible and invisible. But the Callahan family had not paused; they had channeled their fear and relief into action. The Anchor Project, initially conceived in the intensity of the hospital waiting room, had evolved, matured, and was now being launched publicly as the Callahan Compass Initiative.The launch event was held not in a glass-tower ballroom, but in the newly renovated community center in the city's South District—the first operational hub of the Compass Initiative. The air hummed with controlled excitement. Local politicians, community leaders, and the Foundation's board members mingled, but the focus was entirely on the new architecture of the Callahan leadership.Caleb stood to the side of the stage with Diana. They watched their children, no longer just "the children," preparing to address the assembled cro
243
The sun was high in the mid-morning sky when Rose finally opened her eyes. Caleb was there, having returned directly from his reflective visit, sitting quietly beside her bed. The moment was not dramatic; there was no sudden gasp or call for a doctor. Her eyelids simply fluttered, and she focused on the antiseptic ceiling tiles, then slowly, agonizingly, shifted her gaze to Caleb.Her lips moved, but no sound came out. She was exhausted, weak, but she was awake.Caleb leaned closer, taking her hand. It was a gentle, protective hold, vastly different from the desperate grip he’d had the night before. “Rose,” he murmured, the name heavy with relief. “Welcome back.”He pressed the call button, and within minutes, the ICU team was assessing her. They confirmed the improvement was significant; the ventilator would remain for now, but the worst of the crisis was undeniably over. The machine that had kept her alive was now assisting her journey back.The rest of the family filed in soon afte
242
The silence that followed the cardiac episode was heavier than any sound. Rose had been stabilized. The doctors, sweating and grim-faced, had managed to pull her back from the precipice, but only just. The rhythmic, mechanical hiss-sigh of the ventilator and the steady, weak beat of the monitor were the only evidence that she still clung to life. Caleb did not return to the chair. The nurse who had pulled him back helped him to his feet and guided him, stumbling, out of the sterile ICU room and into the small, windowless waiting area reserved for immediate family. Diana was already there, pacing, her face etched with a fear Caleb rarely saw. Leo and Kasper were sitting together, silent, their faces mirroring the exhaustion that had plagued Caleb for days. Aimee sat slightly apart, clutching a worn, small book—a collection of Fiona Callahan’s published poetry—as if it were a shield. Caleb walked to the furthest corner and stood, leaning his back against the cool wall, unable to sp
241
Then, Victor’s voice began. It was weak, a breathless rasp, the sound of a man fighting for air and losing. It was completely unlike the booming, confident baritone Caleb remembered from childhood visits. “Caleb,” the voice whispered, a fragile ghost of a sound. “If you are listening to this, I am gone.” Victor confirmed the contents of the letter, then moved into the specifics of the murder, dragging the painful narrative out over the slow hiss of the tape. “I followed Fiona that night. She found out about the offshore accounts, the things I was doing with Senator Thorne. She wasn't just going to John; she was going to the authorities. She gave me an ultimatum. She threatened to expose me, ruin me, and she had the evidence.” Victor coughed, a wet, rattling sound that made Caleb involuntarily jump back. The pause stretched, agonizingly long, broken only by the continuous whir of the tape. “I had to stop her. It wasn’t about the money, not anymore. It was about her stopping me. Th
240
The hospital room smelled of sterile air and fading flowers. Hours had bled into an indistinguishable block of time. Caleb sat on the hard plastic chair beside Rose’s bed, the silence of the room broken only by the steady, measured rhythm of the heart monitor. He held the manila envelope, sealed with a piece of old, brittle tape, resting in his lap. It was heavy, not with physical weight, but with the entire, catastrophic history of his life.Victor had sent it from the prison infirmary days before he died. Days before Rose had fallen.Caleb’s gaze drifted from the plain brown paper to Rose’s pale, slack face. Her hair was spread across the white pillowcase like dark silk, and the rise and fall of her chest was so slight it barely disturbed the thin blanket covering her.He closed his eyes, gripping the envelope until the edges bit into his palms. He wasn't ready to open it, but the pressure to know the final truths was crushing him.A sudden, sharp image broke through the fog of his
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