Chapter 2
Calla'd always believed it was gone, shattered, melted, nothing but ashes.
Yet there it was, pristine and untouched, sitting on Clare's wrist as if nothing had ever happened.
The door swung open.
Mason leaned against the doorframe, his tie loosened half an inch, exposing a small mole on his collarbone, the spot she used to kiss on those nights when he whispered, "I'll protect you."
"Don't give Clare that look," he said.
"What look?" Calla shot back.
"Like you're about to kill her," Mason said.
Calla grabbed a tissue and wiped her hands slowly. "Mr. Spencer, you're reading too much into it. I don't waste my attention on people who don't matter."
She headed for the door, but Mason stepped in, blocking her path.
The bracelet shimmered under the hallway lights. Mason's hand was braced beside her, his wrist angled just like when he used to sign his name.
"If there's something you want," Mason said, "I can give you anything else. But that bracelet doesn't belong with you."
Calla lifted her gaze to him.
Five years had gone by. His face was sharper now, but his eyes looked hollow, like someone had hollowed him out from the inside.
"Mason," she said, smiling, "do you know what suits me best?"
"What?" Mason asked.
"For you to stay out of my life for good," Calla replied.
She slipped past him, her skirt brushing against his suit pants. At the end of the hallway, the sound of quick little footsteps echoed, and a small kid came running, yelling, "Mommy!"
Calla's face went pale.
It was Joshua, her son, who should've been at the amusement park with Elena.
She hurried over and scooped him up, instantly catching the faint smell of medicine on his breath, the aftertaste of an asthma attack, something she recognized in a heartbeat.
"How did you..." Calla started.
"I felt you were sad," Joshua said, wrapping his arms around her neck and burying his face in her shoulder. "Elena's still in the garage looking for a parking spot, so I ran up here first."
Behind her, Mason's footsteps stopped cold.
Calla didn't turn around. She held Joshua close, feeling that stare drilling into the back of his head, like an X-ray, like a verdict, like a storm that showed up too late.
"Mommy," Joshua mumbled, "the man behind us... His eyes are all red."
"Like who?" Calla asked.
"Like when you're crying, Mom," Joshua replied.
Calla's nails dug into her palm. In the hallway mirror, she saw Mason's face, white as a sheet, as if he'd finally seen a ghost.
That was his ghost.
*****
The air in the private room felt like it had been sucked out.
Clare was the first to snap out of it, her shrill laugh slicing through the silence. "So you already had a bastard? Calla, wow, you hid that well."
Joshua shrank into Calla's arms. His hand still clutched at her clothes, his breathing quickening. Strangers' malice was like a trigger for his allergies.
"He's not a bastard," Calla said softly, but her words shut everyone up. "He has a father. Just not the one you all think."
She was lying. Joshua's father was standing right there in the doorway, his face as pale as paper struck by lightning.
Mason's stare was glued to Joshua's face. The arch of his brow, the shape of his nose, even the way his left eyebrow moved first when he frowned... every detail was just like the kid in Mason's old photos.
Five years ago, his assistant had told him, "Everything's been cleaned up."
He signed the papers, handed over the money, and didn't spare it another glance.
"Calla," Calvin said, his voice shaky, "how old is he?"
"Four," Calla replied.
"So, that means..." Calvin stammered.
"Means what?" Calla shot back, her lips curling into a smile, but her eyes were pure frost. "The year I got kicked out of the Spencer family? The year I nearly died in surgery?"
No one dared to say a word.
Clare stood up, the bracelet flashing green under the lights. "Why not just do a paternity test? That'd settle it, wouldn't it? Mason, what about you?"
"Shut up," Mason said.
Two words, slicing through the room like a knife through butter.
His voice trembled. Clare froze. She'd known him for three years, but she'd never heard that tremor in his voice before.
"Mason?" Clare said, uncertain.
He didn't even look at Clare. His eyes were fixed on Calla, hunched protectively over Joshua, just like five years ago, when she shielded her stomach, fierce as a mother defending her young.
Someone pulled out their phone, ready to snap a picture.
Calla noticed, but didn't stop them. She just wrapped Joshua in her arms, positioning herself to block the camera.
"Go ahead, take your shot," Calla said. "I've already got your headline: SpencerCEOExGirlfriendRunsOffWithBaby. Guaranteed to go viral. Don't mention it."
"Calla," Mason finally spoke, "let's talk."
"Talk about what?" Calla laughed. "How you told me to get lost back then? Or how you plan to make me disappear for good now?"