Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Caleb’s POV
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After losing Isabelle, for the longest time, I kept forgetting she was gone.
When I went downstairs in the morning, I saw breakfast on the table.
I told the housekeeper, “Change this to milk. Isabelle doesn’t like soy milk.”
The housekeeper by the dining table froze momentarily at my words.
Spencer, dragging his suitcase downstairs, sneered behind me. “Cut the act. Like you ever cared before.”
It finally dawned on me–I was divorced.
Isabelle would never come back.
That wife of mine, the one I’d always found boring and constantly mocked, had finally left, just as I supposedly wanted.
Spencer took all his belongings with him. He cleared out everything else he didn’t want and set it all ablaze.
The fire Spencer started caused such a commotion that even my parents came rushing over.
He calmly dragged his suitcase out the door. Without even turning his head, he said, “I’ve already found a place to stay. From now on, I’m cutting all ties with the Burns family.”
My mother was so angry she almost passed out, while my father was consumed with rage, gasping for air.
I yelled, “Spencer, don’t forget, the Burns family raised you for 14 years!”
He turned back to look at me.
For all those years, he had looked up to me the most.
He had said that the greatest person he had ever known was his father.
He had told me I was his idol, the guiding light for his future.
He had idolized me and trusted me unconditionally.
Before he turned eight, no matter how often my parents spoke ill of Isabelle around him, he never believed a
word.
Later, when Spencer was eight, he asked me if his grandparents had lied to him. My reply was, “No, they didn’t.” And he had believed me without a second thought.
But the father he had once believed was perfect and incapable of lying turned out to be just another liar.
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Chapter 9
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At that moment, when Spencer looked at me, there was no trace of the trust and admiration he once held.
Only hatred and contempt remained in his eyes.
Spencer spoke again, his tone as detached as if we were sitting at a negotiation table. “When Mom divorced you, she didn’t take any property. She said her share would count as my child support.
“Now I’m telling you, I’ll use that child support to repay you for every penny you spent on me these 14 years. From now on, I have nothing to do with you.”
Spencer’s voice faltered slightly before he scoffed, “Let’s be real. If it weren’t for my mom, you would’ve abandoned me long ago, right?”
Spencer knew everything, after all.
He was only 14. But with prize money from national and international competitions, plus his school scholarships, he’d saved enough to live independently.
Suddenly, I felt completely drained.
After a long pause, I retorted, “You resent me for hurting your mother. But tell me, were you ever really that good to her yourself?”
A heavy sorrow slowly welled up in Spencer’s eyes.
He opened his mouth as if to speak, but in the end, no words came out.
Shoulders sagging, he turned and fled like a man escaping his own demons.
My mother collapsed to the floor, wailing uncontrollably.
My father rushed after him in a panic, but missed a step and tumbled down the front steps, landing hard in the yard.
Lost in utter chaos, my vision swimming, I thought I saw Isabelle’s face again.
If only she were still here.
But no, she would never be here again. Never,
Isabelle had claimed that our first night together was when I lost control and betrayed Isadora.
But the truth was, I had never had feelings for Isadora, nor had there ever been anything more than friendship between us.
I was the only son of the Burns family, subjected to my parents‘ extreme control since childhood.
When I was twenty–two, someone in the company started spreading office rumors about me and my secretary, Isadora. No one even knew who started them.
Without even verifying the claims, my parents immediately fired her and forced her to leave the
country.
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Chapter 9
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hers
Isadora spent many years struggling alone abroad. Out of desperation, she ended up marrying a foreign man and gave birth to Yelena.
Later, they were abandoned. It took years of hardship before they finally made it back home.
After that, every interaction I had with Isadora and her daughter was solely out of guilt and a desire to make amends.
The night Isadora was forced to leave the country, I pleaded in vain with my parents. They wouldn’t believe a word I said.
Tormented by my own helplessness, I went out drinking, only to run straight into Isabelle.
I had first met Isabelle at an art exhibition.
Someone shoved her, causing her to accidentally bump into a painting. The gallery manager immediately demanded compensation.
She got into an argument with him, and I stepped in to help her out. She was deeply grateful to me after that.
Later, Isabelle gave me a painting she had created herself, her cheeks flushing with shy gratitude as she handed it to me.
With our shared passion for painting, we gradually became casual friends over time.
That night, after a few drinks, I grabbed Isabelle’s arm and asked, “Could you take me home?”
Probably remembering that I’d helped her before, she agreed without hesitation.
On the way back, I called her “Izzy” for the first time.
I suddenly had this overwhelming urge to talk to someone.
I never really had a true friend by my side, never anyone I could truly confide in.
Drunk and maybe driven by a twisted urge to spite the Burns family, I made an unforgivable mistake that night.
I made Isabelle believe I loved her, and she let me in because of it.
Isabelle was pregnant.
My parents couldn’t bear to lose a Burns heir, so they forced me to marry her.
They said that once the baby was born, we’d get a divorce.
It felt as if my marriage, my very life, had nothing to do with me.
In fact, I never truly disliked Isabelle.
Deep down, I always knew she was the one who got hurt that night.
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Chapter 9
But I hated my parents, and by extension, every choice they forced on me.
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I hated Isabelle, the woman they made me marry, and I even hated Spencer, the son she bore for me.
For years, I took all that hatred out on Isabelle, the most innocent of all.
When Spencer turned one, my parents ordered me to divorce Isabelle.
By then, I had taken over Burns Group and was no longer entirely at my parents‘ mercy.
So I refused to have another child.
I thought I was tasting the sweet thrill of revenge.
But I never truly realized it was simply because I loved Isabelle.
I didn’t want a divorce. I couldn’t bear to lose her.
But by the time I finally realized it, it was far, far too late.
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Chapter 10
