Page 144 of Broken Destiny

Harper had followed me out when he received my message and offered to drive me back to the hotel. As we pulled out of the driveway, my eyes had drifted back toward the house one last time.

That was when I saw him.

Caleb stood at the steps, rigid and still, his broad shoulders squared, his face shadowed by the porch light.

An ache strained my chest.

I wondered if he had come outside to confront me again… to unleash more anger, more accusations, just like his sisters and his mother had done.

But he hadn’t moved.

He had simply stood there, watching the car pull away.

And I hadn’t known whether that silence hurt more than the shouting.

Reaching the hotel, Harper had walked me to my room, kissed my cheek, and told me he would see me the next day.

Eleanor’s words replayed in my head.

“It’s not just about who you are. It’s about where you come from.”

The comment made no sense to me.

How would she know anything about where I came from?

Caleb knew I was an orphan, but beyond that, he knew almost nothing about my past. He didn’t even know I had met my biological mother yet because I hadn’t told him.

But something about the way Eleanor had said those words disturbed me deeply.

It hadn’t sounded like an insult thrown out in anger.

It had sounded personal.

Maybe she had been trying to humiliate me in front of her daughters or blame me somehow for everything that had happened with Jeremy and the kidnapping.

Still, the words stayed lodged uneasily in my mind.

Now, after breakfast, the children and I spent the day with Elle and her family. While the children played together, I finally told Elle what had happened at the party the night before.

“What on earth was that supposed to mean?” Elle asked, her eyebrows pinched together.

“I have no idea.”

Elle leaned back in her chair and shook her head.

“Well, it’s Eleanor. At this point, she’d probably blame you for global warming, bad weather, and the extinction of dinosaurs.”

I burst out laughing despite myself, the tension in my chest easing ever so slightly.

“Anyways, you still have time,” Elle said gently after pulling meinto a hug. “One bad night doesn’t mean you give up. Try again, Jiji. Caleb deserves to know the truth.”

Her reassurance soothed me for a while, though the unease never fully disappeared.

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying not to overthink everything, focusing instead on the children and enjoying the time with Elle’s family.

That evening, Harper joined us for dinner back at the hotel.

“Wow,” he said, hugging Lucas. “You’ve grown up so much since the last time I saw you.”