Page 42 of Broken Destiny

The softness in her eyes.

The intimacy the artist had captured so effortlessly.

That portrait wasn't the work of someone observing from a distance. It had been painted by someone who knew her. Someone who cared about her deeply.

My stomach tightened.

Was that it?

Had she been involved with Cole Harris while he was still married?

I leaned back in my chair, staring at his photograph again as the pieces began falling into place inside my head.

It would explain the painting. It would explain why she had disappeared. It would explain why she had built an entirely new life in Cowichan Bay without ever looking back.

The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became.

Maybe the woman who had judged me so harshly all those years ago wasn't nearly as innocent as she had pretended to be.

She must have come between him and his family, just like she had accused me of doing.

She had been furious with me over Caroline—over something that had never even happened—and now here she was, married to a man who already had a wife and child, living a life built on deception while pretending to stand on higher ground.

The irony twisted inside me, bitter and metallic against my tongue.

A bitter laugh escaped me.

So much for her being the innocent one. So much for her being the victim.

She never failed to surprise me.

Not anymore.

13

JIYA

“Mama, you forgot to put peanut butter on the bread,” Lucas said, studying his sandwich with a frown. “You just put jelly.”

My body and mind had been tense ever since Caleb had popped his way back into my life. I kept replaying everything that had happened, wondering how things had spiralled into this complicated situation and how his sudden return was going to affect the life I had worked so hard to rebuild.

“I’m sorry, Lucas,” I replied quickly, correcting the sandwich and handing it back to him.

I could not concentrate on anything.

Questions circled endlessly in my head. Would he come looking for me? Would he leave me alone? How would our working relationship function now that fate had thrown us back into each other’s path?

Surely, he had questions of his own.

Or perhaps he did not.

He had moved on with his life, just as I had tried to move on with mine. He was getting married. That fact alone should have brought me comfort, yet it didn’t.

Why did he accept the project? Why did he choose to work with me?

There had to be a reason behind it.

Caleb was not a man who acted without purpose. Every move he made was calculated and strategic.