Chapter 6

The scandal had landed on him harder. As an Alpha Heir, the attention was sharper. He didn't deny anything. He released a statement ending the Marking with Vivienne and distancing himself from her completely.

In the weeks that followed, Callum kept reaching out to me.

"Hazel, have you seen what's being said? I mean it this time. I'll take care of the situation with Vivienne."

"I know now that those funds never reached you — Vivienne gave me the wrong account. That's why you didn't get them."

"I know you were innocent. Can you forgive me?"

"I've been sorry about this for a long time. Give me one more chance."

I didn't answer any of it. I blocked him.

But people online kept digging. More details came out.

【This man has a nerve. I heard from his former classmates he was basically an abandoned kid, raised by his ex-girlfriend's family. And he repaid them like this.】

【When his ex was at her lowest point he was out having a great time with the woman who destroyed her. That's not something a normal person does — especially not to the family that gave him everything.】

【Her mother went into a coma and he never visited once. Just kept living his life with the other one.】

【He wanted it both ways — the stability of his ex, the excitement of the new one. He played both sides until it fell apart.】

【The worst thing that ever happened to her was meeting those two.】

Under all that pressure, Callum's standing inside his Pack collapsed. His status fell. Word came that he'd been stripped of his Alpha Heir position and expelled from Pack leadership. The losses he'd caused had to be covered out of his own pocket.

A friend told me all of this with barely contained fury.

I listened and felt nothing. It was over for me a long time ago.

Then the foundation called again.

"Ms. Fairfax. Are you sure you won't consider the program?"

"We can cover everything. This is a rare opportunity."

Hearing that, I had a strange feeling. Like it wasn't quite real.

When I'd been shut out of every academy — when my mother had been hit by that car — I had believed my life might just stay broken forever.

I hadn't expected another chance.

And I'd heard there were specialists in other Territories who had better ways of treating long-term coma patients. Higher success rates.

I did the numbers in my head.

Then I took Callum off the block list.

I called him.

"You said the money you sent never reached me because Vivienne gave you the wrong account. Send it now. I need it."

"If you feel like you owe me, this is what paying it back looks like."

On the other end, the typing indicator went on for a long time before his message came through.

"Give me some time. I don't have much cash right now."

While I waited for Callum to transfer the funds, he sent messages every day.

Long ones. From the beginning to now. Every memory.

I didn't reply to a single one.

"Hazel, I don't know what I was thinking. Looking back — I was never good enough for you. It should have been the other way around."

"Without you and your parents, I probably would have gotten completely lost. You were the only people who ever made me feel like I had a home."

"When I met Vivienne, I believed her. I kept thinking she was somehow better — like maybe I could have more, instead of staying where I was."

"Now I know. The best thing I ever had was right in front of me from the start."

"Give me another chance. Even just as a friend. Even if you don't forgive me. I'll prove it."

When the transfer of one million came through, I blocked him again.

The moment I needed him most, he hadn't been there.

Our future had been right in front of us, and he'd chosen to let go of my hand in the middle of it.

Now the storm over my life had passed. I didn't need his umbrella anymore. Not even a little.

The night before I left for my program abroad, I ran into Callum in front of my building.

He looked nothing like the person I remembered. The easy confidence was gone. He looked exhausted.

He smiled when he saw me. Like there had never been anything between us.

"I'm leaving tomorrow," I said.

He nodded. "I know. I came to see you off."

"I hope your life from here on has no more hard stretches."

Then I heard running footsteps.

Before I could react, Callum stepped in front of me.

I saw it then. Vivienne, coming at us with a blade. She had been watching the building for days. I had been the target. But Callum took the hit.

As he went down, he looked at me. There was something almost calm in his eyes.

"Hazel. I'm finally giving you back your good life."

The people nearby stopped Vivienne before she could run.

Callum died. Vivienne was taken into custody.

And I — for the first time in years — felt something release inside me.

He had cost me one piece of my life after another. And in the end, it had cost him everything.

I went abroad. For once I had nothing to carry. I put everything into my work and my studies.

On the day I received my certification, I got a call I hadn't expected.

After all those years, my mother had woken up.

My life was finally turning toward something new.