Page 80 of Broken Destiny

When I walked back into the kitchen, I found Caleb standing near the counter, staring off into the distance as though he were somewhere far away in his own head. The tension in his shoulders hadn’t eased, and I wondered what had crossed his mind while he had been alone. Then his gaze shifted to me, and he blinked slightly, pulling himself back into the present.

I reached the kitchen island, and he handed me a glass before suddenly stopping mid-motion. His hand froze, and he shook his head faintly, as though catching himself.

“Sorry,” he said quietly. “I forgot… your heart.”

His eyes flickered briefly toward my chest, then back to my face, and I realized he had remembered my surgery from years ago.

“It’s fine,” I said, taking the glass from his hand. “I’m fine now and healthy.”

We walked to the couch in the family room and sat down across from each other.

His gaze wandered around the room before finding mine again.

“You know there’s a painting of you, right... very close to your restaurant?”

“It used to be Cole’s gallery,” I said, sipping my wine. “He was the one who painted it.”

His jaw flexed.

“How did you meet your husband?”

I shifted in my seat beneath the weight of his gaze.

“Cole was my neighbour,” I said calmly. “He lived two doors down from me.”

I could feel him waiting for more, and when I said nothing else, he lowered his eyes for a moment before looking back at me.

“You loved him, didn’t you?” he asked quietly.

“Yes, I did,” I replied, taking another sip of wine. “I still do. He was a good man… an amazing father.”

Silence settled between us.

When I lowered my gaze to my glass, I felt his eyes remain on me. By the time I looked up again, the tightness along his jaw had eased, and his grip around the stem of his glass had loosened slightly.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

His apology felt genuine, and the atmosphere between us grew calmer.

“How’s the family?” I asked, hoping to steer the conversation somewhere safer.

“They’re good.”

“How are your nieces and nephews? They must have grown so much.”

The change in him was immediate. His shoulders stiffened, and the softness that had been in his expression vanished.

“Funny that you’d ask about them.”

My chest constricted.

“You were the one who put them in danger, remember?”

“I remember,” I said quietly.

I lowered my glass onto the table before my trembling fingerscould betray me completely. “I’m sorry, Caleb. I never wanted any of that to happen.”

His expression remained cold.