Chapter 641

The bedroom door hadn’t been fully closed.

Lydia had noticed it from the start-but she hadn’t intended to take advantage of it. All she wanted was a moment to steady herself, to quiet the unease that had been lingering inside her, shapeless yet persistent.

But then she heard his voice.

Cale.

And just like that, her steps halted before she could move any farther. She stood still behind the door, unmoving listening

Her husband was on the phone. She didn’t know who he was speaking to, but it sounded like someone close… someone he

trusted. Maybe one of his most reliable men. Lydia couldn’t be sure.

What she did know was this-the way Cale spoke was different.

Lower. Sharper. More guarded. Not like the man who had held her in the car just moments ago, as if nothing was wrong. There were pauses between his words, a tension that didn’t need to be spoken to be felt.

And somehow… Lydia couldn’t bring herself to walk away.

Her curiosity rooted her in place, especially as unfamiliar names began to surface, one after another.

Chen Naomi. The Chen family. Zhao. Falcon.

All of them sounded foreign-yet from the way Cale said them… they weren’t.

This wasn’t mere familiarity.

He was involved.

Lydia pressed her lower lip between her teeth, holding her breath every time his voice dipped-deeper, heavier. As if every word he said carried pieces of a truth she had never been allowed to see.

She didn’t catch everything. Not all of it was clear. But it was enough. Enough to make one thing certain-Cale knew far more

than just who that girl was.

He knew an entire world he had never once opened to her.

And the longer she stood there, the clearer the feeling she’d been trying to ignore became. That quite uneasy, slowly shifting into something harder to name.

It wasn’t just curiosity.

It wasn’t just worrying.

It was fear.

Because whatever Cale was involved in… it went far beyond anything as simple as business.

The call eventually ended, leaving behind a silence so complete it almost felt heavy. Lydia didn’t notice it right away.

She was still standing there, her heart beating just a little too fast, as if her body hadn’t yet caught up with the fact that the conversation was over.

Only after a moment did she take a step back, moving away from the door before returning slowly to the edge of the bed. She sat down, her hands clasping together tightly, trying to steady the storm of questions filling her mind.

So it was true.

Chapter 541

Cale knew that girl.

And not just in passing.

+25 Bonus

There was something between them-she didn’t know what, not yet-but enough to make him speak like that. Enough to make those names surface. Names she didn’t understand, yet clearly carried weight far greater than she could grasp.

Family.

Massacre.

Control.

The pieces didn’t fit together-at least, not completely. But they were enough to form a hazy outline, and somehow that made it worse. The uncertainty gnawed at her, leaving her more unsettled than if she’d known nothing at all.

Lydia stared blankly ahead. “Cale…” she murmured, barely above a whisper. If he were standing in front of her right now, she wouldn’t even know where to begin. But one thing was certain-she could no longer pretend she didn’t know.

Footsteps sounded from outside. Slow. Steady.

Her body tensed instantly, almost without her realizing it. She lifted her gaze toward the door just as it began to open.

J

Cale stepped inside, with a faint smile on his lips. But Lydia caught it-the trace of exhaustion etched into his face. Even if his expression had returned to its usual calm, she knew better.

There was too much on his mind.

And that only made her more certain-he was hiding something.

“You’re not asleep yet?” Cale asked lightly, as if nothing had happened just minutes ago.

Lydia looked at him, longer than usual, as though searching for a crack beneath that composed exterior. “I was waiting for you.”

The answer was simple-but it was enough to make Cale pause, if only for a fraction of a second. Then he moved again, walking closer. “I told you, you could’ve gone to bed first.”

“I couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

Lydia exhaled softly, her eyes never leaving him. “Because I know… you’re hiding something. And you promised you’d tell me, didn’t you?”

Cale didn’t answer right away. His gaze dropped briefly before returning to hers. And for the first time that night-he didn’t look entirely composed.

Lydia swallowed.

“That girl…” she continued carefully. “You know her, don’t you?”

Cale ran a hand through his thick hair, ruffling it slightly before letting out a long breath. There was no avoiding this anymore. Not that he intended to keep it from her-but still… this was supposed to be their honeymoon, wasn’t it? And yet here he was, about to dig up a past he had no desire to revisit.

“You promised-”

“I know, my love,” Cale cut in gently, a faint smile touching his lips. He stepped closer and sat beside her.

Lydia didn’t resist, not even when he leaned against her shoulder, letting a bit of his weight rest on her as if seeking something unspoken.

“Would you mind… if our honeymoon gets interrupted by a story from my past?” Cale asked quietly, his fingers absently playing with the ends of her hair.