Chapter 171

~MELISSA~I had agreed to take a step into knowing my parents and today, stepping into their house, I felt a whole shift within myself. The coolness of the house, the sun rays spilling in through windows, the faint fragrance and the playing tv - it all felt familiar. Not because I had been here before, but because for the first time, I felt like I was stepping back into my home. My long lost roots.I kept wondering where the nostalgia was coming from.I wandered slowly through the hall, my fingers brushing lightly against the walls. I could only imagine what it was like growing up here. I imagined playing with Isabella here as kids, laughing until our stomachs hurt, sneaking into her room to borrow things, gossiping about boys and boyfriends while in our teens only to make up in fits of giggles, fighting and not talking to each other for days.I smiled as I passed across the wall. I stopped next at a window, wondering if my life would have been how it is now, if I was raised as a Har

Chapter 172

~DESMOND~The conference hall was enormous, enough to hold all of the members for the grand annual meeting. Yet the few people present made it feel empty. I sat at the high table, among VIPs who were all waiting for the CEO to arrive. With every eye in the room, it felt like they were drilling into me as I climbed up towards my seats.Some watched me in silent mockery while some more still regarded me as the rightful CEO; others despised me for stepping down without any form of explanation.I didn’t flinch. I only settled quietly in my seat almost like I wasn't there at all.Claudia walked in, briskly in a navy blue tailored shirt and matching fitted pants. Her confidence elevated as she clasped her schedule board against her chest, her bag in the other hand.Our gaze met briefly but her eyes bounced off at once like she hadn't seen me at all. I smiled quietly to myself. But I saw her glow, the way she had grown into her role, and yes, the pride she clearly felt working for Richard

Chapter 173

~DESMOND~ FIVE WEEKS EARLIER The moment I received that call in the car, I felt my whole life crumble, until I brought it all together again in one moment. For several seconds after the call ended, I didn’t move. My hand remained frozen around the phone where it was pressed to my ear as if the conversation was still and all I could ask was "how?"My father was gone. Melissa still had her hands clasped over her lips after I told her. “Desmond, I’m so…” she began, but the words died in her throat. I lowered the phone slowly to the console, staring straight ahead at the road.It didn’t make sense.He had been improving. Just yesterday the doctors had said he was stable. Weak and still unconscious, yes but recovering. I had believed them. I mean it was obvious.So what happened? How?Without another word, I turned the steering wheel sharply and made a U-turn. Melissa stayed silent. I could feel her watching me, worried, but she didn’t say anything. Maybe she knew there were no wor

Chapter 174

~RICHARD~I had remained adamant since the moment the police placed me in custody. I never easily folded and I wasn't going to now.Even sitting inside the cold gray cell, I refused to accept the charges they were pressing on me. They were only true when I said they were. And they weren't!“I’m not guilty,” I would repeat over and over again, my fists clenched.Yet as the hours dragged on and the silence of the cell grew heavier, my mind kept wandering back to that day. Back to that hospital where my father was.I had stood beside the bed, staring down at him for a long time.And all I could think about was the life the man had forced on me. All the years of disappointment, all of the years of comparison, the several years of hearing the same unspoken message: Desmond is better - till it finally became spoken.My jaw tightened even with only the memory.Yet, when my father had collapsed weeks earlier, I had been the one who rushed him to the hospital. The one who called for help. The

Chapter 175

~DESMOND~Richard never admitted to anything. It would have been better for him if he plead guilty but he still somehow believed that he could make it out of this like he always did other things.Even after the arrest, even after the evidence began piling up, he maintained the same cold insistence that he was innocent. Every interview, every interrogation ended the same way with him staring back at the investigators, jaws tight, refusing to break.The trials in court took weeks and as it dragged on, the atmosphere around our family grew tense and tense.At first, Patricia still clung to hope. She believed there had been some misunderstanding, some twisted manipulation of the truth. She still had hope in her boy. She didn't confront me and tell me that I was framing Richard up. Because she knew deep down, Richard was capable of it. I was sure she wished I would have hid it rather than let the public know. But we couldn't keep on pretending to be in control of things or ignore the bea

Chapter 176

~MELISSA~“Caleb!” I called again as I walked across the hallway toward his room. “Caleb, I know you’re in there!”But he didn't answer.I pushed the door open slowly and stepped inside.His room looked exactly the same as always - organized. If it was going to be messy then it's just a space where he had something going - and that's where he was doing his works. My eyes drifted immediately to the airship models he was building for a school project. Some hanging from the ceiling, a few pieces scattered across the corners, metal frames and wires bundled in places.I walked further in, tilting my head upward as I admired them.“They look even better than the last ones,” I murmured to myself. He still hadn't stopped dreaming about being a pilot and probably everything else that flew in the sky.“Boo!!!”Caleb's cry sent me gasping loudly and jumping back.He bursted into laughter behind me, clutching his stomach as he climbed onto his bed.“Caleb!” I scolded, placing a hand over my chest