37. Jiya
JIYA
Tears rolled down my cheeks against my will when Caleb slammed the front door. The pain I had buried years ago crashed into me all over again, hitting so hard it stole the air from my lungs.
I looked down at the letter still clutched in my hand.
Caleb,
I am sorry for the hurt and pain that I have caused your family and you. It was never my intention, but I am sorry.
I did not think Jeremy would ask for such an exorbitant amount. It was not what he and I agreed on when we planned this.
Now that he does not exist, I have decided to move on and keep the money. Thank you for everything.
Goodbye,
Nyah
It was my handwriting, but it was not my words.
Heat rose in my body.
I could not understand how my letter had changed or who could have written those sentences using my handwriting.
My eyes darted across the page again, scanning every word as if the truth might appear between the lines.
Slowly, I walked to the living room and sank onto the couch, defeated.
Closing my eyes, I let the silence swallow me.
Fate had brought us back together only to tear us apart again through more misunderstandings and complications. We were like ill-fated lovers, destined to circle each other but never truly stay together.
Maybe it simply was not meant to be.
Maybe the universe was telling me to let go and move on… without him in my life.
It would be easier that way.
Opening my eyes, my gaze landed on Cole’s picture sitting on the fireplace.
He had never given up on me, believing in me even after learning the truth about my past. He had never turned his back on me.
I should not give up either.
That was not who I was.
I had fought too hard to become the woman I was today. I had rebuilt my life from nothing—escaping Jeremy, supporting Cole, raising my children, growing the restaurant, opening the cafés, and building the construction business step by step.
I had survived worse than heartbreak.
I was not going to break now.
My muscles tightened with readiness as a new thought formed in my mind.
Something was not right.
I looked at the letter again, this time with sharper focus.
My eyes narrowed as I studied the handwriting more closely.
The way the letters y and m were written was different.
Someone had switched the letters—that was evidence number one.
Caleb had not noticed it, but I had.
The pictures and recordings Alex and I had gathered would be evidence number two.
Realization dawned on me that second.
If this letter was false, then maybe the pictures of Caroline and Caleb together had also been staged. Maybe Caroline being in his bed had been part of a calculated plan.
And there was only one person capable of orchestrating something like that.
One person who had hated me from the very beginning.
One person who never wanted me anywhere near her family.
One person whose life I had saved.
His mother.
Eleanor.
All of these misunderstandings had been created because of her. That woman had altered the letter and planted the lie that I had taken the money. She had manipulated Caleb into believing exactly what she wanted him to believe.
Her voice echoed in my memory.
My son only listens to me.
She had been right.
More right than I had ever imagined.
I had saved her life, and now I found myself wondering why.
Eleanor had been playing us against each other all along.
This was what Caleb had believed about me for years. His bitterness suddenly made horrifying sense.
Could I blame him?
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.
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.
He had not lied.
He had not cheated on me with Caroline.
Those photographs his mother had shown me had been staged, carefully crafted to deceive me.
A lie.
A plan his mother had orchestrated—very likely with Caroline’s help.
As that truth sank in, my heartbeat slowed, replaced by a heavy calm.
“You let me walk away without giving me a chance to explain. Now I’m going to do the same to you... So you know exactly how that feels.”
I lowered my head, unable to speak.
His anger crushed every word waiting on my tongue.
Without another glance, Caleb turned and walked toward the children.
“Lucas... Emma...” Caleb called out as they sat at the table eating their cereal.
The children looked up at him, their spoons pausing midway to their mouths.
I stood in the living room watching their interaction, my arms crossed and fingers trembling.
He bent to their level.
“Guys, I’m leaving now.”
His voice softened for the children, but I could see the tension in his jaw.
“Where you go?” Emma asked.
“Back home... back to Vancouver.”
“But why?” Lucas asked in a small voice.
Caleb straightened slightly, his shoulders stiffening before he spoke again.
“I’m getting married in less than three weeks, remember?”
“Yeah... Mama told me that,” Lucas said. “I thought you were having fun with us here, and you wouldn’t go back.”
“I did have a great time, but I have to go now. The weekend is over.”
“Come again?” Emma asked.
“I can’t promise, but I’ll try,” Caleb replied.
“I was hoping that you and Mama would get back together and that maybe you would marry her,” Lucas confessed.
I felt my breath catch in my throat, and my fingers fisted my blouse.
Caleb swallowed and looked at Lucas for a long moment.
“I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry I made you feel that way,” he said, letting out a slow breath. “Your Mama and I are just two very different people now, Lucas. It would never work out.”
“It seemed to be working fine until yesterday.”
Lucas’s words were simple, yet painfully honest.
Caleb’s jaw ticked as he shifted his gaze away for a brief second before speaking again.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice quieter now. “Maybe I’ll see you guys at the wedding.”
“Sure,” Lucas replied with a small shrug.
I could see the disappointment in Lucas’s face as he lowered his eyes to his bowl, pushing the cereal around without eating. Emma remained unusually quiet, watching Caleb with wide eyes.
“Can I get a hug at least?” Caleb asked softly.
Both children climbed down from their chairs and wrapped their arms around him. He held them close for a few seconds before gently guiding them back to their seats.
Milo and Oreo padded into the kitchen, tails wagging slowly as if they sensed the heaviness in the room.
Caleb crouched down and scratched behind their ears.
“Guess this is goodbye for now, huh?” he murmured.
Milo nudged his hand while Oreo pressed against his leg affectionately.
Caleb stood slowly and turned toward Geeta.
“It was nice meeting you. Take care of the children and yourself.”
“You too, Bhaiya,” she replied.
He nodded once and walked toward the door.
I stood frozen in the same spot, unable to move, unable to speak.
He did not look at me as he left, taking the broken pieces of my heart with him.