Serena Jennings’ crow-black eyelashes curled upwards.
She never expected to encounter Caleb Lockwood in such a place.
"Are you following ?"
Caleb Lockwood approached Serena, his obsidian eyes far from calm.
Like the sea beside them, rising and falling.
"I just asked your bodyguard..."
Caleb’s thin lips parted slightly.
Serena halted because Caleb blocked her path.
She didn’t take the initiative to ask why Caleb was there; the look in his eyes suggested he had sothing to say to her.
The sea breeze tangled Serena’s long hair.
Serena noticed Caleb hadn’t applied wax this ti, and his hair was ssily tousled by the wind, adding an elent of casualness compared to usual.
"Today... Jasper Linton passed away..."
Caleb spoke calmly, observing the even calr Serena before him.
"How long do you plan to keep this from ?"
This ti, Caleb’s voice carried a tinge of grievance.
"You are the true heiress of The Linton Family—Chloe Linton. You are the biological granddaughter of Jasper Linton, the only daughter of Aaron Linton and Jade Shaw."
The weight of these titles seed laughable to Serena.
Is bloodline important?
Surely, it is important.
But legally, since she was adopted by Audrey Jennings, she has nothing to do with The Lintons.
"Yes... my forr na... was Chloe Linton."
Serena calmly confird to Caleb.
Caleb’s expression darkened, his brows furrowed.
He was angry.
But he also knew he shouldn’t be angry with Serena.
Yet the fact that Serena hid this part of her identity from him for so long made it impossible for him to suppress his anger.
Originally, he was looking forward to hearing Serena play the Chopin Nocturne in the piano competition today.
But Dylan Shepherd suddenly announced that Serena had an urgent matter and couldn’t participate.
Sitting in the audience, Caleb imdiately contacted Mr. Sanders to find out where Serena had gone.
Mr. Sanders told him Serena, accompanied by her bodyguard, had gone to Country C.
And the biggest event today in Country C was the passing of Jasper Linton.
The person who called Serena was Aaron Linton, and the one insisting Serena must be present was Jasper Linton’s lawyer.
The mont he learned of this, Caleb connected many dots.
For instance, back in the juvenile center, Serena was unwilling to reveal her surna, only stating she was called Chloe.
For instance, Serena’s file was sealed.
For instance, the racing goddess nad Chloe Linton refused to remove her helt during the award ceremony.
Soon, Caleb concluded—
Serena is Chloe Linton, the original heir of The Lintons.
Caleb stepped forward.
"Why didn’t you ever tell about this? Am I so untrustworthy?"
Caleb’s agitated deanor puzzled Serena.
To her, her background wasn’t worth ntioning.
If it wasn’t for the chance encounter with Aaron Linton and Jade Shaw on the cruise, and Aaron Linton’s remorse for the past leading him to actively reach out to her, the Linton Family would already be erased from her life.
"It has nothing to do with trust; legally, I’ve severed ties with The Lintons."
Serena’s response was calm, but Caleb’s agitated feelings couldn’t be cald.
He once thought he knew Serena best.
Serena seed ordinary, demure, easy to grasp.
It turned out...
He knew nothing about Serena.
Including...
Serena is Chloe, the girl he once knew in the juvenile center.
"You refused to tell you were part of The Linton Family, or that you’re Chloe from our ti in the juvenile center together... Serena, we used to be married, the closest two people could be... Yet you kept in the dark."
Faced with Caleb’s firm questioning, Serena felt her heart like a cocktail of emotions.
"And you have the nerve to say I kept you in the dark..."
Serena took a deep breath, the fabric of her chest feeling pulled and painful, beads of sweat erging on her forehead.
"Back when you had an accident, I saved you. In the hospital room, you didn’t recognize , and Patrick Rhodes ntioned you had a girlfriend... In that situation, what could I say, what should I have said?"
Caleb felt as though he’d been punched hard in the chest.
Standing before him was a transford Serena, her once composed eyes now red and veiny.
"Knowing you had a girlfriend, I didn’t want to cling to you... It was you who appeared at my university’s gate to declare your love... I thought even if you forgot Chloe from the juvenile center, you still loved , but in the end... I was just a tool for you to retaliate against Claire Shaw..."
"Your first love was Claire Shaw... Even if you were mistaken, your first love wasn’t ."
With Serena’s barrage of accusations, Caleb felt as though his head might explode.
"No! That’s not how it was, my first love was you, it was you, Chloe! I just mistook Claire Shaw for you."
"...What?"
Serena couldn’t comprehend Caleb’s words for a mont.
Anxious, Caleb hurriedly recounted to Serena how he’d mistaken Claire Shaw for Chloe back during a piano competition.
Close at hand, Caleb’s eyes were filled with pleading.
Serena could see that Caleb genuinely hoped she would forgive his unintentional mistake.
Yet after listening to Caleb’s story, Serena couldn’t stop herself from laughing, even as her shoulders shook.
"Caleb, how could you be so stupid?"
"I..."
"Claire Shaw claid to be Chloe and you believed her, even after all these years, don’t Claire Shaw and I look nothing alike?"
"Chloe, listen to ..."
"I don’t want to hear it!"
Serena clutched her ears and turned to leave.
Caleb imdiately rushed forward to grab Serena, but Serena harshly shook him off.
They grappled by the sea, neither willing to give in.
Finally, in a fit of rage, Serena pushed Caleb into the sea.
The waves crashed over Caleb, like a monster devouring him whole.
Caleb sat drenched in the seawater, looking up helplessly at Serena.
Serena’s eyes burned red with anger as she glared at him.
"Do you think that just because you mistook Claire Shaw for and favored her, I would forgive you, be moved, and regard you as a steadfast lover?!"
Caleb was silent.
"No, I would only feel that you never truly loved Chloe... In your ti with Claire Shaw, you didn’t notice the difference between her and Chloe, and in our three years of marriage, you never realized it was who was truly Chloe..."
Every word of Serena’s doubts felt like knives piercing through Caleb.
He was heartbroken, yet couldn’t utter a word of rebuttal.
An unexpected darkness engulfed him, and he didn’t even know when he lost consciousness.
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