Page 131 of Broken Destiny

I had thought he knew me well enough to see the truth. I had believed that spending time together again would soften his anger, even if the letter had been real.

But he had believed the lies.

How could he?

The bag!

My gaze snapped toward it.

I wiped the tears from my face and walked toward it.

The brown duffel bag rested there.

It looked similar, but not identical.

The bag that had held the money for Jeremy had been black. I remembered that clearly. This one was brown and slightly worn. I recalled seeing it stored in the basement before, but I could not remember what was inside.

I knelt and unzipped it.

Clothes spilled out.

Just clothes.

Nothing else.

My eyes fluttered shut as a shaky breath left my lungs. For a second, my knees nearly gave out beneath me, and I gripped the edge of the bag to steady myself.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

I turned and saw Geeta approaching.

“Didi, I brought the bag up because Jack told me at the restaurant that he wanted it back. I took it from the basement so I would not forget. Let me know which clothes you want me to keep and which ones you want me to drop off at the donation center.”Her brows furrowed. “Are you okay,Didi?”

“Yes,” I replied, sniffling. “I am fine, Geeta.”

But inside, my whole being had been crushed to smithereens.

I had wanted to tell Caleb about our daughter.

About my feelings.

About how I had never stopped loving him, even after all these years.

Instead, that bag had revealed what he truly believed about me—and the lengths his mother would go to keep us apart.

Eleanor would never accept me.

She would never accept our daughter.

I had never told Caleb the truth about her, and now I understood why his mother had worked so hard to keep him from finding me. If he discovered the truth, everything she had done would be exposed.

Would she still feel the same way if she knew that my blood ran through her veins?

After drinking a glass of water, my shoulders sagged with exhaustion.

Slowly, I walked back toward my bedroom while Caleb’s cruel words echoed relentlessly through my mind.

The next morning,I woke up with a dull ache behind my eyes and heaviness lodged deep in my chest.