تسجيل الدخولIn the end, Joren simply wanted Callan to stay.Stay at Rook Maritime.Stay with the Rook family.They had grown used to having him there. As long as Callan remained, it felt as though the family still had something solid holding it together.Soren’s eyes were red.“I agree with Joren.”He looked at Callan.“I want you to stay with the Rook family.”His voice caught slightly.“And keep being our father.”Gwenyth had already started crying.“I agree too.”“Callan, you have been distant with me all these years, but in my heart, I still thought of you as Dad.”Cameron had remained quiet in the corner until then.He finally spoke.“Whether you are Calder or Callan does not really change anything.”“Why not stay with us as Calder?”“Was things being the way they were rea
“Wait. Explain that again.”Nola stared at Joren.“Wanda has a husband and a child?”For a second, she wondered if she had heard him wrong.Where had a husband and child suddenly come from?“You did not know?”Joren looked at her.“She never told you?”“She got married abroad. She has a child too.”His eyes were bloodshot.He had barely slept these past few days. Most nights, it took alcohol and sleeping pills just to knock himself unconscious.Being awake was worse.The moment his mind cleared, it went straight to Wanda.And once he thought of her, the ache would not stop.Nola opened her mouth, then closed it again.Wanda had never mentioned any of this.Not once.“Do not decide anything yet.”She tried to steady him.“When I see her, I will find out what is going on.
“Samuel.”The smile disappeared from Norchester’s face.Willa stiffened beside him.Both turned toward the entrance.Samuel was crossing the courtyard with a slim black cane in one hand.He had dressed carefully for the occasion. Black suit, polished shoes, every detail in place.He looked better than he had even at his seventieth birthday.The moment he entered the sitting room, he saw Norchester.Of course.The man had beaten him here.Samuel ignored him and looked only at Willa.Ten years.There was silver in her hair now, and time had touched her face, but the quiet beauty he remembered was still there.Then came everything else.The misunderstanding.The years he had wasted.The things he had done because he refused to believe her.For once, Samuel did not know where to begin.“Willa.”The name came out with dif
Only after Samuel left did Cameron and his family come to see Blythe.“Mom.”Seeing her like this still hurt.Whatever else she had done, she had always treated Cameron and his children well. That made the truth harder to reconcile.“Cameron.”Blythe looked up and immediately began crying again.“Leslie. Xian. Octavia. You all came.”“Grandma.”Xian and Octavia greeted her quietly.Leslie remained off to the side.Of everyone there, she probably understood Blythe best.From the day Leslie married into the family, Blythe had been one person in public and another behind closed doors. She knew how to flatter, how to perform, how to make every scheme look respectable.So seeing her here now, Leslie could only think one thing.She had brought this on herself.“Leave us for a moment.”Blythe looked toward the others.
Quill hesitated.“Sir, she refuses to sign.”“She says she belongs to the Rook family in life and in death.”He lowered his voice.“And she keeps demanding to see you.”Samuel’s face hardened.“Take me to her.”He hated Blythe.But it was not the same hatred he had once felt toward Willa.With Willa, love had come first. He had believed she betrayed him, and that love had curdled into rage.Blythe was different.She had harmed too many people. She had even plotted his death.There was nothing left in him for her except disgust and the urge to see her punished.Until the divorce was settled, Blythe and Melissa had not yet been handed over to the police.Blythe clung to that delay.Samuel had not sent her away yet.Surely that meant some feeling remained.“Is anyone there?”She struck the b
“I began to suspect that what happened to Norchester and me, Calder’s death, and the turmoil inside the Rook family were all connected.”Willa’s hand tightened around her cup.“It felt as though someone had been moving everything from the shadows.”“I could endure being wronged myself. What I could not endure was my son dying without explanation.”“So I decided to take a dangerous risk.”“At the moment when the Rook family was most unstable, I contacted Samuel again and asked him to meet Callan.”She looked at her son.“He came.”“And when he saw how closely your face resembled Calder’s, he could hardly believe it.”“The moment he agreed to let you return and take Calder’s place, I knew the first step of my plan had succeeded.”Willa reached across the table and took Callan’s hand.







