Chapter 82
Mrs. Haynes‘ jaw dropped at her son’s sudden statement.
“Callum, what do you mean, son? What is your problem? If this is about Shane, then we could find a way to help her out, Cal, his mother said worriedly as she put her designer bag on the couch and walked toward her son, who poured himself another drink..
“And stop drinking. You aren’t like me. You’ve never been so bothered before. I know you are worried about Shane. She is your first love, and it is hard that she would be jailed for something she didn’t do, which, for sure, those Sullivans have plotted for her.”
“Why do you think this is about Shane, Mom? She was the reason why my child died. Darn it,” he cursed violently as his jaw clenched and he gulped down the entire drink in one shot; the liquor even flowed to the sides of his mouth and down his neck.
“What? Son, I don’t understand-
“1 proposed to the daughter of the Sullivans, Mom!” He interjected; his eyes were bloodshot as the pain reflected in his twinkling eyes.
“Yes, I know. It was all because you were trying to gain their trust. We know, Cal. Shane has mentioned it to me..”
Callum shut his eyes as the ranging anger was already knocking out of him, and he just wanted to flip the table down.
He was so frustrated. He felt like his life was manipulated by Shane herself; it now revolves around her, and everything he does is because of Shane.
Mrs. Haynes‘ shoulder jumped out in shock. She didn’t expect she would see how mad Callum was for the first time, as she was used to him being calm and composed, always rational, and confident that he could control things, but for the first time, he looked so lost and defeated.
“I lost my fiancee. I lost our baby. I lost my dream! I failed!” He growled as he took the bottle and gulped it continuously.
Mrs. Haynes immediately went to him and tried to grab it from his hand, but Callum was persistent in chugging the alcohol down like it was just water to him.
When he placed it back on the table roughly and wiped off his lips with his hand, his eyes looked so drunk but showed his pain, and Mrs. Haynes shoulder loosened.
Callum rested his elbows on the table and ruffled his hair as he bowed and shook his head lifelessly while sobbing.
“I lost my family,” he cried. “I proposed to her because I am in love with her! And all of a sudden, you assumed that I was doing it for the damn position! You were all the reason why her family couldn’t even trust me because you made it seem like there was competition between our families!”
Mrs. Haynes froze where she was standing, as she didn’t expect the sudden outburst of her son crying his heart out as he seemed to be mourning something.
“She was harassed and tortured! She was abducted! She got traumatized! And all because of this bullshit position you were all trying to obtain, you are willing to put her in danger!”
Callum’s chest was aching so badly. It was the kind of pain that no matter how many times he drank, it just wouldn’t go away. Even after how many years it would take, the wound would always bleed like it had been stabbed over and over again every time it dried up to remind him of the pain of yesterday.
Mrs. Haynes cannot say anything, as she looks so shocked by Callum’s revelation. She knew that it was too much, and she could not defend what Shane just did.
She was shaken back to reality by her son’s words, and she realized they had almost forgotten how to live normally. They all forgot that there is more to life than what’s going on in business. That power is nothing when the driving force behind obtaining such a thing is gone the source of the force that was coming from your family or a loved one. So when you lose them, the strength to rule suddenly becomes a burden to continue as you cannot find the reason to move forward.
And that’s what’s happening to Callum. His success means nothing without the source of his strength–his family, which was his life.
As a mother, she walked silently to the side of her son and hugged him as she caressed his back while Callum whimpered in so much
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Chapter 82
“I failed to protect her,” he sobbed.
To hear her son breaking down for the first time, she remembered his young days, when Callum cried because his favorite pet died. On that day, she promised herself that she didn’t want to see her son hurt because it was a different kind of pain.
“We lost our baby,” he continued in his broken voice.
Mrs. Haynes‘ tears escaped. She doesn’t really care about the Sullivans, as for the long run, they’ve been their competitors in business, which they wanted to surpass so badly for a long time. But his son crying and blaming their greed for power awakened her to how they created their own versions of monsters who only care about wealth and who don’t value life anymore as long as success is achieved.
Callum is determined to drop his position, as he doesn’t even want to show up in jail where Shane is because he doesn’t want to lose his
temper over a woman.
*Where is Callum, mom, dad? Why isn’t he showing up?” Shane asked furiously days later as she bailed out and got ready for the upcoming hearing.
“We don’t know, sweetheart. I heard from his parents that he went down from his position at the company.”
“What?! But that’s Callum’s dream position! There’s no way he would leave it!”
Her parents cannot give her any reasons. Shane bit her fingers as she looked so stressed while walking back and forth.
“I need him! I need him right now! They are putting me in jail! I need him to help me out! Tell me that everything’s going to be okay! I need him by my side! I need him!” she said desperately.
“Shane, have you really done it? You’ve abducted her?” Her mother asked, confirming the truth.
“Because she stole Callum’s opportunity, Mom! She deserves every bit of it! The sufferings! The torture! All of it! even losing a child! So she would know how painful what she had done to me was!”
Her parents cannot believe that she really confessed it in front of their faces.
“My goodness,” Mr. Wilson sighed problematically when he realized that there was a big chance they would lose the case, knowing that their daughter was guilty.
The Sullivans were known for winning cases because they had all the best lawyers out there. And with their desperation at the moment, the Wilsons could sense they wouldn’t be bribed by anything.
The Sullivans continued filing a case against those men, and Shane Wilson, as Callum also received a complaint from Ciara herself that she was filing her case, pointing out that he was part of them.
Callum took her accusation so seriously as he wanted to prove to her that she wasn’t part of Shane’s plan and present some evidence that he was telling the truth without tampering with any evidence as he wanted to undergo a hearing naturally.
It was the only way he knew to prove to her that he would never take part in something that would put her in danger. He understood. that she was dealing with a traumatic event and that she wanted justice not just for what happened to her but also for their baby.
His evidence all pointed out that he had nothing to do with the abduction, as the footage showed how Shane went to his office at that hour left his phone unattended, and manipulated his phone, which matched the time when Ciara received the time Callum’s text told her not to bring her guards.
Other than that, the one who was contacted by those men was none other than another man who was paid by Shane herself, which revealed the evidence the Sullivans had obtained.
It was a heavy case, which the Sullivan immediately won. Even her accusations against Ciara that killed her child were dismissed when a witness showed up that Clara didn’t even push her; it was an accident since Shane was attacking Ciara in the first place,
To hear all of it, Shane felt like her world would crumble down as soon as she was charged guilty.
