All Chapters of His Forgotten Love Returns: The Return of the Ex-wife: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

|| Cale ||I made sure she had entered the house and locked the door, even though my heart was thudding against my ribs and my veins were humming with a desperate, frantic need to go back and knock just so I could stay with her. I’m always worried about her, even though I know Abbie can take care of herself. But now, with the weight of my promise to Nana, I want to do better—yet I know she wants nothing to do with me.I had no choice when it comes to Abbie; only her choice matters.Then again, does a bastard like me even have a choice?I was dropped at the front of an orphanage as a newborn. I grew up with nobody wanting me; I was the kid the other children avoided, the one who sat in the corner of the playground while the world passed me by.I left that hellhole when I was eighteen and immediately got entangled with the wrong crowd. Still, I had just enough damn discipline to use the money I made on the streets to get into university. I always loved studying, but I never stopped my a

|| Cale ||I was having a beautiful dream, the kind I hardly ever have anymore, with Nana and Abbie. We were in their small, cozy house; I was under the sink repairing a leak, while Abbie sat on the counter, swinging her legs and reading aloud to me from a book. Nana was at the stove, the air thick with the scent of her herb-roasted chicken and fresh bread. The house felt warm, safe, and filled with a golden light that didn’t exist in my waking life.We finished our chores and sat down for dinner. Nana reached out and held our hands together in a circle.“I want you to always be together… forever. Forgive each other and move on, because love is the only thing that outlives us,” she said. Then her voice simply faded, and she wasn’t able to speak again.Abbie and I were staring at each other, smiling, when a phone started ringing. It was a jarring, intrusive sound that didn’t belong in that peaceful kitchen.The ringing continued until I jolted awake, my heart racing as the golden dream

|| Cale || I coughed—a harsh, grating sound that rattled in my chest—as I sat on the apartment stairs outside, trying to stop the world from spinning. I heard soft footsteps behind me before Rachel sat down and handed me a glass of lukewarm salt water with lemon to help settle the alcohol. Steam rose from the glass, biting at my nose, cutting through the haze in my brain.I took it from her. “Thank you.”“You shouldn’t have done that,” she said quietly. “You almost killed him.”“He deserved—”She cut me off. “I know what he did, and honestly, it would have been great if you’d ended that bastard. He disrespected her and her mother right in front of Nana’s body—he should have died. But you can’t protect her if you’re rotting in a jail cell, Cale. You have to be smarter.”“Well, maybe I should have just finished him… at least my life would finally be straightened out behind bars,” I muttered, staring into the murky water.She laughed at that—a small sound—and I found myself chuckling al

|| Abbie ||Nana was buried next to her favorite son, and I finally said my final goodbye, releasing a handful of earth that felt like the heaviest weight I had ever carried. Cale was with me every step of the way—a silent, steady shadow in my grief.After the service, he took me to a quiet restaurant for lunch, where he finally convinced me to move into Rachel’s apartment. He promised he would “take care” of Mr. Miller. I didn’t ask what that meant; knowing Cale’s capacity for cold, calculated retribution, I knew the landlord wouldn’t be bothering anyone ever again.And here we were, in the sleek, modern kitchen of the apartment on moving day. I was perched at the kitchen island while Rachel moved efficiently around the stove, preparing our lunch.“Where are the children?” I asked, trying to fill the quiet.“They’re at home,” Rachel replied, smiling. “It was better to leave them there with Emilia. If they were here, they’d be turning your moving boxes into forts and playing tag throu

|| Abbie ||I patted his chest, pushing him away as I scrambled to pull on my lace panties and straighten my dress. “Open the door,” I gasped, my lungs burning as I fought to regulate my shallow, frantic breathing. I sat up on the edge of the bed, trying to look anywhere but at the mess we had just made. Cale stood up, smoothed his hair, and opened the door. Rachel walked in, her arms crossed. “What do you two think you’re doing?” “Nothing,” I replied, the word sounding hollow even to my own ears. “Come on, don’t lie to me. I know what I heard, and looking at the state of you two, the atmosphere in this room says it all.” She gestured to the rumpled sheets and the heavy, electric tension still vibrating between us. “I was on my way to the kitchen when I heard moans coming from this room. What if it wasn’t me? What if it was Slade? No, scratch that—Slade wouldn’t even mind. But what if it were Barbie, or worse, Flora? Don’t you care about her feelings at all, Cale?” She reached out