Chapter 3

Callum glanced at Mia. "Mia, watch your language."

His tone wasn't harsh.

Mia stuck out her tongue and casually picked up his water glass for a sip. "I just didn't want Tatiana to get the wrong idea."

Callum didn't stop her.

I looked at the two of them and suddenly wanted to ask one last question on behalf of the woman I'd been for the past six years. "Why?"

Callum looked up. "Why what?"

"Eating with me, visiting my family, going to the hospital, you time all of it. But when you take Mia jewelry shopping, to the movies, out for late-night snacks, you never keep track."

Callum didn't dodge the question. As if he were assessing a case, he gave me the clearest answer possible. "Mia is a lawyer the firm is investing in heavily. Her growth translates into results and creates long-term value for the firm."

He paused, and his gaze swept across my face. "You currently have no professional output. The time you spend waiting for me has no commercial value."

The last faint thread still tying my heart to him snapped without a sound.

I lowered my eyes. Even the sadness had faded.

Mia leaned against his shoulder and reached up to straighten his rumpled collar. Once, a gesture like that would have kept me up all night. Now, it didn't stir a thing in me.

Yet, Callum glanced at me. My calm seemed to unsettle him more than an argument would have.

He took out his tablet and sent me his schedule of personal time for next year. "The five hours have already been allocated. Your birthday, our anniversary, your checkup, and two family dinners all have time set aside."

Mia plucked the tablet right out of his hand. "I've got a mock trial on Tatiana's birthday, so let's push dinner to the following week. And the anniversary needs to be a little shorter. My flight lands that night, and Callum has to pick me up."

Pen in hand, she circled and changed my schedule however she pleased.

Callum only reminded her, "Don't pack it too tight."

Mia smiled and handed me the marked-up calendar. "Remember to confirm, Tatiana. Last-minute changes come out of your allowance, too."

I looked at the schedule, now unrecognizable, and tapped Decline.

Callum frowned slightly. "Why won't you accept it?"

"I won't need it."

Mia was still hanging on his arm. Callum stared at me for a few seconds, but in the end, he didn't press.

…

That evening, Callum's mother, Agnes Walker, called. She said only two things. "Tatiana, your dad's already been cremated, so stop dragging your gloom around Callum.

"Callum, bring Mia home with you tonight. She made the partner shortlist, and the family is throwing her a celebration."

Callum put down his phone and looked at me. "We'll come home right after dinner. The family dinner doesn't count toward your five hours."

I nodded.

As Mia got into his passenger seat, she turned and smiled at me. "Sorry to put you through this, Tatiana. Your father just passed, and you still have to come celebrate me."

At the long table in the Walker family home, Mia once again sat beside Callum. Agnes poured her wine herself.

"Tatiana, when you quit the firm back then, the mentorship spot you left open went straight to Mia. Looks like it didn't go to waste after all."

Mia raised her glass toward me. "I really should thank you, Tatiana. If you hadn't left, I might never have gotten the chance to be mentored by Callum personally."

Seeing my red eyes, Callum cut in flatly. "Spots rotate based on performance. They don't belong to anyone. Mia stayed because she created enough value."

Agnes nodded with a smile. "A woman really should have a career of her own. Spending all day hovering around a man, only to end up relying on her husband's charity for five measly hours? How dull."

Everyone at the table laughed.

I lowered my head and drank my long-cold tea, one mouthful at a time.

After dinner, a maid carried a cardboard box down from upstairs. Agnes pushed it toward me without a second thought.

"I had someone clear out the nursery in your house. When Mia works late with Callum, she can organize her files in there. It's close to the study."

Callum's face darkened. "Who gave you permission to touch that room?"

"Why should a baby that didn't make it take up a whole room?" Agnes didn't care in the least. "The living have careers. They can't keep making room for a child who died two years ago."

Mia hooked her arm through Callum's. "Callum, let's just put it back the way it was. I'm sure Tatiana can't bear to give me the baby's room."

"No need." I picked up the box. "It won't be used anymore."

Callum looked at me, as though he'd caught something in my words. But Mia had an international arbitration meeting at ten.

In the end, he only said, "Let's go."