Page 49 of Broken Destiny

A place in Liam's company.

None of it fit the image I had spent years carrying in my head.

Yet the money was still gone.

The letter was still real.

And I still didn't have answers.

The thought burned through me like acid.

I could feel the vein on the side of my neck twitch as heat flushed through my body.

By the time the dancer finished her routine, I could barely sit still. I pulled a hundred-dollar bill from my wallet, pressed it into her hand without meeting her eyes, and stood up abruptly.

“I need some air,” I muttered, pushing my way through the crowd.

Outside, the night air hit my face, and I inhaled deeply, letting fresh air fill my lungs.

Greg followed me out a second later.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Did you not like the dance?”

“It was fine,” I replied, taking another sip from my drink. “I just needed some air.”

I stared out into the darkness.

“Look, we’re leaving after the weekend. Enjoy it while you can, and you’ll be back to your routine in no time.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said, nodding slowly. A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. “You weren’t joking when you said this trip would change my life.”

Greg scoffed under his breath. “Tell me about it.”

I stood there quietly, listening to the muffled music spilling out from the building behind us.

The irony of the situation dwelled on me.

Just days ago, my life had been predictable, structured, carefully mapped out.

Now everything felt uncertain.

I still didn’t understand how my world had turned upside down so quickly.

Life was unpredictable, and changes were indeed inevitable.

15

JIYA

“There’s so much going on—Karena, the children, and work,” I said softly, staring at Cole’s tombstone on Saturday morning. “Karena calls and messages from time to time. She wants to keep in touch, and I’m glad about that.” I smiled. “Then there’s the restaurant and the cafés. They’re handling themselves quite well.”

I paused, looking around at the quiet cemetery before returning my gaze to his name etched in stone. Milo and Oreo hadn’t come with me today—they had stayed back to keep the children company.

“The children… boy, oh boy… they’re a handful,” I continued, shaking my head gently. “Always keeping me on my toes. You should hear some of the things they say and the kind of antics they pull.”

A soft laugh escaped me, but it faded quickly.

Turning away, I tried to avoid the subject that had been pressing against my chest all week, the one thought I kept pushing aside whenever it threatened to surface, but I knew I couldn’t run from it—not here, not in front of him, not in a place where truth always seemed to find its way out.