ANMELDENBella POVOn a Tuesday, Grace took her first steps. She walked from the coffee table toward Caleb’s waiting hands. Tom cheered so loud that she sat down in shock, giving him a look just like Caleb’s—as if she were trying to process why he was being so dramatic.She stood back up and tried again."Grace." Tom knelt down like a personal trainer. "You can do it. Look at Dad's hands. Walk to Dad's hands."Grace looked at him, then at Caleb’s hands, then back at Tom. She looked like she was deciding if his advice was actually worth it."She's thinking about it," Tom said."Give her a second," Caleb told him."I'm encouraging her.""You're overwhelming her."Tom looked at the baby. "Am I overwhelming you?"Grace grabbed the coffee table and pulled herself up, finished with the conversation. She stood there and looked at the distance to Caleb’s hands with a calculating look she had clearly inherited from me—though I’d never admit it."She's calculating," Caleb whispered, smiling."She gets t
Caleb pov The room went silent. Even the therapist stopped taking notes. Some moments were too important to write down.Six weeks in, I was waiting on a corridor bench when Diana finished her session. She sat beside me and stared at the wall."I'm sorry," she said. "For the tests, the doubt, the years of misplaced anger. I know 'sorry' doesn't cover it.""It doesn't have to cover everything," I said. "It just has to be real."She glanced at me, her expression softening into a look that reminded me of the sister I’d had before everything broke. "It’s real," she said.I nodded. I thought of Tom asking about her and Grace bearing her name."Come home when you're ready," I said. "Not before. But when you are—come home."She was quiet for a long moment. "How's Tom?" she asked finally.Something in my chest loosened. "He asks about you every day," I said. "He told Grace you were coming back soon."The corner of her mouth moved. "He can't know that.""He decided it was true," I said. "So as
Caleb POVThe facility was forty minutes outside the city, tucked behind pines—a place where discretion was part of the price. I’d found it, called in favors, and confirmed a bed before dawn. The director spoke with the flat, careful tone of someone used to dealing with people like me: families driven by urgency and guilt.Diana agreed to go. Her quiet compliance told me more about her state of mind than any words could. During the two-hour intake, I sat in the waiting room and thought about my sister at sixteen. I’d spent years trying to forget the look on her face when Victor sent her away, because remembering it meant admitting I’d done nothing. I’d been young, terrified, and focused only on my own survival.I had filed that memory away, the "Black family method" of dealing with trauma. It was something I understood intellectually but hadn't actually resolved.Bella sat beside me while Diana was taken for assessment."You couldn't have stopped it," she said. "You were a child."I l
Diana POVCaleb arrived minutes later. When he saw me, an expression flickered across his face that he didn’t bother to hide.He lingered in the doorway, assessing the room. His hair was windblown, as if he’d driven with the windows down.He glanced at Bella; she gave him a small nod. Then his eyes settled on me. I watched a look take hold of him that I couldn't quite name."Hey," "Hey," I said.He crossed the room and sat on the other side of me from Bella and didn't say anything else for a moment."I'm not going to ask if you're okay," he said finally."Good," I said. "Because I'm not.""Okay." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, looking at the floor. "Do you want to talk about it or do you want to just sit here?""I don't know yet.""That's fine," he said. "We've got time."The three of us sat in the quiet hotel room, neither of us talking .Then Caleb spoke. "Tell us about the documents. Both of them."I looked at him. "You know there are two?""Bella told me," he said, glanc
Diana POV"I needed somewhere nobody knew."She didn't push on, "Where are you?""Bella" I sat up straighter. "You don't need to — it's quite late, Grace will need""Caleb has Grace, And we have Nadia."I had forgotten about Nadia. The nanny they had finally settled on after what Caleb had once described to me simply as a long process — which I knew, from Bella, was the understatement of the decade. I knew about Singapore. I knew about the cameras and the flight home and Tom crying himself into a fever, and I knew that Bella's caution about who she left her children with was not a personality quirk but something she had earned the hard way. Caleb had understood that. He hadn't tried to talk her out of it — he'd sat down with her and made a list and found someone together. Nadia had been with them for a week now, which by any measure meant she had passed every test worth passing.My thoughts were interrupted by Bella. “what’s the name of the hotel Diana?""I'm fine. I just needed to""
Hello dear readers,Thank you so much for reading my story and for all your continued support. I wanted to let you know that I’ve made some updates to Chapter 172, including the introduction of a new nanny.The changes are currently pending approval, but they should be available within the next two days.Thank you again for being part of this journey 🤍
Bella POVI didn't see Caleb for the rest of the gala. He'd disappeared after his devastating revelation, leaving me to navigate conversations and networking while my mind spun with humiliation and anger.He'd heard me, he heard everything. By the time I made it back to the penthouse, it was past m
Bella pov The song was ending, our dance almost over, and I knew I should step away. But his arms were strong and warm around me, his scent was drowning me, and for just a moment, I let myself imagine what it would be like to give in. To let him kiss me in front of everyone, claim me publicly, mak
Bella pov I turned to find Ethan Pierce, CEO of Pierce Industries and one of the few self-made billionaires in the room. I'd met him a few times at business events, always found him charming and intelligent."Ethan, good to see you." I shook his hand. "You know Caleb Black?""We've met." Ethan's s
Bella POVI made it back to the penthouse in record time, my mind still spinning from what happened in the elevator. The kiss, the confession, the way my body had betrayed me completely.Tom was in the living room with Maya, building what appeared to be a penguin village out of blocks."Mommy!" He







