Page 158 of Broken Destiny

“What? Why?” I asked.

“The double date with Caleb and Tatiana,” he said, frowning. “Remember, I mentioned it.”

“Oh!”

I didn’t want to go. Why in God’s name would I want to sit across a table from Caleb and his fiancée, pretending everything was normal? The situation between us was already chaotic enough. Adding another layer to it felt like pouring fuel on a fire.

“You could have your chance to talk to him while I distract her,” he said, stopping to throw away the plate in the garbage can.

“That might actually work.”

“Do you think... never mind,” he said, shaking his head.

“What?” I asked quickly.

I wanted to know the rest of that thought.

“I don’t want you to get mad, Jiya.”

“Why would I?”

“All right,” he said slowly. “Do you think the reason this is not working out with him is that it’s not meant to be?”

“Why would you say that?” I asked, throwing my plate into the garbage can and turning to face him with my arms folded across my chest.

“Because it just doesn’t seem to come together,” he replied. “You’re trying from your end, but things keep stopping you. Isn’t that a sign?”

I lowered my gaze to the ground.

Is it a sign?

“Plus, do you want him to hate his mother days before his wedding?” he asked, placing his hands carefully on my shoulders.

I looked up at him.

“But he needs to know the truth,” I said firmly. “If not about his mother, then at least about the fact that I didn’t collude with Jeremy to get his nieces kidnapped and that I didn’t steal the money. Most importantly, I want to tell him about Emma.”

“He’s going to marry a woman he loves. He’s chosen her. He proposed to her. Do you think he will change his mind based on the information you tell him?”

His words forced me to confront a possibility I had been trying toavoid.Hearing the reality of the situation laid out so plainly made my thoughts spiral. I wanted to set the record straight. I wanted the truth to stand on its own. I wanted his family to see me for who I truly was—not the villain they believed me to be.

But what would happen after that?Would his mother lie again and dismiss my evidence as false? Would Caleb walk away from his fiancée and choose me? Would the truth fix anything at all?

I had come back to tell him the truth, convinced that honesty would set everything right. Now doubt crept in, quiet but persistent, making me wonder whether I had been naïve to believe it would be that simple.

Minutes must have passed, because I suddenly realized I was no longer hearing the sounds around me. Harper’s voice sounded distant at first, pulling me slowly back to reality.

“Jiya... Jiya?”

I lifted my head and saw him staring at me, his eyebrows drawn together.

“Sorry. I was thinking about what you said.”

“Give it a real thought,” he replied. “And if you still feel like you need to tell him or the family the truth, go for it.”

I nodded slowly.

My phone buzzed again in my hand.