2025-06-16 22:29:08.
Caleb gripped the key Mr. Callahan had given him, its cold metal a stark contrast to the burning confusion in his mind. This new identity, handed to him almost casually after years of searching, left a bitter taste. He had found his family, yes, but disappointment coiled in his gut. The man who was his father, the one who had unknowingly raised the son of his mother's killer, the one whose adopted son had publicly shamed him—it was too much to reconcile. He found himself already plotting Tony's demise, a vengeful fire igniting within him. This wasn't just about Cathy anymore. Tony wasn't just a rival for a woman; he was the blood relative of a murderer. He scoffed, pulling out his button phone. His thumb hovered over Diana's number. A week ago, they had made a deal: she would help him find his identity, and he would play her fiancé to crash the engagement meeting.Now, he had the answers, but the truth felt like a heavier burden than the search. He hesitated, a long moment stretching as he weighed the complexities of his new reality against the simple promise he'd made. But he couldn't leave her to struggle alone. He needed to tell her not to worry,He pressed Diana’s contact "Hey," he said, once she answered. "I need to meet. I have some huge news." "Me too!" Diana’s voice buzzed with an excitement that mirrored his own. "Why didn't you call earlier?" "Just got free," he answered, letting the lie hang. "Thought you'd call too." "I was going to, after work. Meet me in front of the hospital by 5 PM?" By 5 PM, Caleb's bike was already parked by the curb in front of Reed Medical Center. He leaned against it, dressed in his black denim, a plain white singlet under a black jacket. The key from Mr. Callahan felt like a hot stone in his pocket. Then, she appeared. Diana emerged from the hospital's grand entrance, a vision of composure in a smart business dress, walking with a regal poise that drew eyes. He gave a slight wave. She saw him, her face lighting up with a genuine smile. "Hi! That's a nice jacket you have there. It would fit me so well," she said, her voice light. Without a second thought, she dropped her elegant handbag onto the seat of his motorbike. Caleb offered a small smile and scratched the back of his head, feeling a familiar awkwardness. "Let's talk in the car." She pressed her car keys. A Mercedes sedan, sleek and dark, beeped in response. Caleb glanced at his humble bike, then at the expensive car, a wry smile touching his lips. He picked up her bag and followed. Inside the quiet luxury of the Mercedes, Caleb began. "I've been holding back from saying this, but guess what happened?" They had only met three times, yet a strange ease had settled between them, a comfort that felt far older than their brief acquaintance. "What?" she asked, turning to him, her eyes bright with anticipation. "Well, I found my identity! Guess who?" Caleb blurted, a thrill running through him. But Diana didn't look surprised. Not even a flicker. "You already know?" The question felt like a punch to the gut. His voice dropped, disappointment lacing his tone. "Is that why you called? is that what you wanted to say? How many people knows about this?" The thought that she might have been privy to his deepest secret, while he’d agonized over revealing it, stung. "Partly," she admitted, her gaze steady. "I already knew Mr. Callahan was your father. He came to me to know about you, and I did the DNA." "But why didn't you tell me as soon as you found out?" His voice held a trace of accusation. "I tried calling you, but it didn't go through," she explained. "Also, I needed to adhere to policies." She stopped, her eyes flicking to something in his hair. She reached out, her fingers brushing his temple to remove a loose thread. The sudden proximity, the warmth of her touch, created a charged, awkward silence. The air thickened between them, a silent invitation. She cleared her throat, pulling back abruptly. "Well, that's not all I wanted to say!" She fiddled with her seatbelt. "My father has been hounding me about meeting your family. I didn't know what to tell them, especially about how I knew my brother Michael had your file. I'm not sure how much they know, but I'm very sure they haven't found out about your relationship with Callahan." "What?" Caleb asked, reeling. "I thought you cleared him? Said there was nothing going on between us after the meeting that day?" "No, I didn't," she stammered, her gaze dropping. "I... I..." "You what?" Caleb prompted, his patience wearing thin. "I don't want to tell him that. I want him to believe we're really dating. Let him plan the wedding. On the day of the wedding, we'll bail," Diana suggested, her voice gaining a desperate conviction. "What?" Caleb's jaw dropped. "What are you thinking, Diana? Are you willing to hurt your father's feelings all because he wants the best for you?" "If he wanted the best for me, he'd accept this deal," she countered, a spark of defiance in her eyes. "I helped you find your family. If I hadn't taken you to that engagement, you wouldn't have known." Her voice softened, a manipulative edge entering it. "Besides, don't you want to know how Cathy is living?" Caleb stiffened. He hadn't told Diana about Cathy. The mention sent a chill down his spine. "You know, you'd fit in as a spy much more than a doctor, Ms. Reed. I've already helped you with the engagement. What more trouble do you want to put me through? Look for someone else to play your fake fiancé and leave me alone." He reached for the door handle. Diana moved swiftly, grabbing him from behind, her arms locking around his waist. "Please, Caleb, save me this once! Please! You have the looks, the height, everything I need in a man. Just help me this once. Meet my grandfather and my family. I promise I will cancel this myself after I get promoted to professor." Her voice was a plea, raw and urgent. .
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The night had folded softly over Varadele; a silver calm stretched across the city where the Callahan–Fiona Foundation stood, steady and luminous in the dark.Inside, most of the lights were dimmed; only the top floors still glowed faintly, like the last embers of a long day refusing to die out.Aimee sat alone in her office; the documents on her desk looked untouched, though she had been staring at them for hours. The room smelled faintly of coffee and rain. Beyond the glass wall, the city pulsed in quiet rhythm; headlights streaked the wet roads below, dissolving into the night.Her fingers toyed with the edge of a pen, but her mind was somewhere else—on Kasper’s voice, steady and low, echoing from earlier that evening.Welcome aboard, he had said, and something in the way he said it had unsettled her calm. It wasn’t his tone; it was the warmth beneath it, the sincerity he didn’t try to hide.She hadn’t realized how long she’d been staring at nothing until the door clicked open behi
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The archives of the Callahan–Fiona Foundation were a study in organized chaos, a labyrinth of white files and black binders housed deep beneath the main corporate tower. Aimee sat at a large mahogany table, the only light source a small, focused lamp casting a yellow pool over the documents. She was officially reviewing the pre-merger humanitarian expenditures, a task she had volunteered for to better understand the groundwork of the organization. However, her true search was for echoes of the past, for any mention of the woman whose presence in her life had always been a ghost, the worst part of it is even the woman whom she thought was her mother that she was working for turns out to be her mother's friend pretending to her mother so she thought it's best to find more details of what her mother did in the past in order not to make any mistake Aimee turned the page of an annual report from nearly two decades ago, her fingers brushing the brittle paper. The early sections detailed th
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The morning sun poured through the tall windows of Varadele University, tinting the lecture hall in a soft golden hue. The air buzzed with anticipation. Students, journalists, and scholars filled every seat, some standing at the back, holding cameras or notepads.At the center of the stage stood Dr. Diana Callahan, her silver-streaked hair neatly tied back, her white suit immaculate. She looked poised, but her heart was pounding in a rhythm that echoed both nostalgia and fulfillment.Today marked the end of an era — her final lecture before retirement. The announcement that she would be awarded dual honorary doctorates in Medicine and Ethics had spread across the world. She was now the first woman in Varadele’s history to hold both honors simultaneously.Caleb sat quietly in the front row, a familiar figure among the audience. His posture was relaxed, but his eyes followed every move she made. Time had left gentle marks on his face — faint lines at the corners of his eyes, silver at h
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Months later A car rolled up the long driveway, its headlights cutting through the mist. Diana, who had been standing by the large bay window of the living room, froze when she recognized the way the door opened lslow, deliberate, cautious.And then, there he was.KJ.He stood under the drizzle, a duffel bag slung over one shoulder, his coat soaked, his expression unreadable. The boy who had once run from the shadows now looked like he had walked through them and come out on the other side — older, leaner, and quiet in a way that only pain could teach.For a moment, Diana didn’t move. Then she stepped outside, the rain touching her hair and shoulders.He looked up and met her eyes.“You’re late,” she said softly, trying to hide the quiver in her voice.He smiled faintly. “Traffic was bad,” he murmured and it was such an ordinary answer that Diana couldn’t help it; she let out a small, shaky laugh.They stood there for a long while before she whispered, “He’s inside.”KJ nodded. “I k
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Diana stood slowly. For the first time in the conversation, she spoke without an edge of control. “Does Aimee know any of this? Does she know who you are?”Cathy’s throat closed. She exhaled with a sound that was closer to grief than to breath. “yes She does . but I could not bring myself to tell her. I thought it kinder to step away. That was the second cowardice. She doesn’t know the real me.”Caleb’s hand, when he reached for the small paper cup, trembled. He had the impression that Cathy’s confession was a wall being dismantled brick by brick that each brick had the grain of a life’s worth of choices. He also felt the precise, simple fact that a human life had been kept from his family’s knowledge.“You should have told us,” Kasper said, voice low. “We could have done something.”“You could have been destroyed,” Cathy whispered. “I could not risk that. I thought silence was shelter.” She laughed a short, humorless laugh. “Shelter for me. Not for you.”For a long while there was on
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. At night it had been a place of hushed machines and the faint scent of disinfectant. In the morning it was a place where the light came through the high windows and showed dust on the sills, where the cleaners’ carts crept quietly down the hall and the staff moved with rehearsed efficiency. The quiet was less menacing by day; it felt practical and ordinary.Cathy sat in the visitor chair by the small table in the hospital room. The IV drip beside her made a soft, methodical sound. She had declined the offered hospital gown and instead had a plain sweater pulled close to her throat. The skin at her temples was thin; she kept her hands folded in her lap. She had the posture of someone who had learned to make herself small in public. The bruise marks at the line of her wrist from the hospital band were almost faded now.Caleb was awake. He had insisted on seeing her again before she left. He watched her without speaking. Diana hovered near the doorway, her face unreadable. The twins ha
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