Chapter 2: The Silent Room
The pain was a physical entity, a jagged blade twisting inside me. Everything was hazy, but I could hear the panicked murmurs of the guests. My mother was standing over me, clutching the empty vase, her face white with a mix of fury and dawning horror.
"She... she tripped," my mother stammered, looking at the horrified guests. "It was an accident."
"An accident?" Sarah shrieked, pressing a napkin against the blood blooming on my dress. "You smashed her head open, Aunt Marcella!"
Suddenly, the heavy oak doors of the lake house were kicked open.
The silence that fell over the room was absolute. It wasn't the silence of surprise; it was the silence of pure, unadulterated fear.
Callum walked in.
He wasn't the man who made property closings in Salem. He was dressed in a charcoal suit that looked like armor, his eyes scanning the room with the lethal precision of a soldier. Behind him, two massive men in tactical gear stood guard.
He didn't speak. He didn't look at my father. He didn't look at Lyric. He moved straight to me, his knees hitting the marble floor with a force that rattled the wine glasses.
"Arden," he whispered, his voice cracking. He gathered me into his arms as if I were made of glass.
"Callum," I sobbed, the pain in my stomach intensifying. "The baby... they took my truck... they hit me..."
Callum’s gaze shifted to my mother. He didn't shout. He didn't curse. He simply looked at her, and my mother, the woman who had spent twenty-nine years bullying me, crumbled. She dropped the vase. It shattered into a thousand jagged pieces.
"Get her to the car," Callum roared at his men. "And if anyone touches her, if anyone even breathes in her direction... burn this place to the ground."
As they carried me out, I saw my father try to step forward. "Now wait just a minute, Callum—"
Callum didn't even turn his head. He just raised his hand, and one of his men stepped forward, placing a heavy, gloved hand on my father’s chest.
May you like
"Don't," the man said.
We didn't go to the nearest hospital. We went to the private clinic in the city where Callum’s firm had pre-paid for the best doctors in the state.
