Page 132 of Broken Destiny

For a few disoriented seconds, I stared at the ceiling, trying to escape the memory of the previous night.

Then Caleb’s words came rushing back.

I wish a person like you had never been born.

Pain closed around my throat.

Sleep had done nothing to ease the hurt.

I turned onto my side slowly and forced myself to breathe through the ache squeezing around my ribs.

Caleb deserved the truth.

He deserved to know what his mother had done.

After taking a quick shower, I made up my mind to go to his hotel and show him everything. I dressed, ignoring the dull ache in my shoulder, and headed downstairs to have breakfast with the children.

Just as I reached the kitchen, the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,Didi,” Geeta called out from the hallway.

I poured cereal into two bowls for the children and walked to the fridge to take out the milk.

Turning around, I froze.

Caleb stood in the kitchen.

Time stilled as our eyes met.

My heart pounded wildly in my chest while my mind raced with a hundred thoughts at once.

The pain in his eyes from yesterday was still there. He had not slept well. His eyes were red and tired—probably just like mine.

It will all be over soon, I told myself. I would show him everything. I would expose his mother's lies, and he would finally see the truth. At least then, whatever happened next would be built on honesty instead of deception. This misunderstanding would end quickly, like pulling off a Band-Aid.

Without saying a word, he walked a few steps into the living room. Then he turned back toward me, and I saw the anger burning in his eyes.

“Can I speak to you?” he asked.

I walked toward him slowly, feeling the twitch in my muscles.What is he going to say to me now?

“I came to give you this,” he said, holding out an envelope.

I had not even noticed it in his hand until that moment.

With trembling fingers, I took the envelope and opened it.

Inside was his wedding invitation.

My heart constricted painfully, as though someone had squeezed it with cruel force. Fresh pain washed over me, and I struggled to steady my breathing. I had come prepared to tell him the truth, to fight for us, and instead, he was standing in front of me, reminding me that he belonged to someone else.

“I hope you do come,” he said icily. “Maybe you’ll find your next groom there.”

“Let me explain?—”

“There’s nothing left to explain,” he cut in sharply, stepping closer. His voice dropped into a harsh whisper. “You didn’t let me explain the day you thought I had slept with Caroline, remember? And now I don’t need your explanations or your lies to continue this conversation.”

I remembered that day all too well, and now I understood the truth.