Chapter 32: Chapter XXXII

Callum’s phone buzzed on the nightstand again.

He picked it up, only half-awake, Ariana’s soft breathing a reminder of the fragile peace they’d slept in. The screen lit up with Julian’s name and a single word:

“Urgent.”

Slipping out of bed, he padded barefoot to his balcony, the glass doors soft in their track. Manhattan's skyline shimmered beneath him, but Callum’s thoughts were on the darker corners of the world he’d tried to shield Ariana from.

He dialed. Julian answered immediately.

Julian: We have a much bigger problem. It’s her father.

He didn’t need to ask which her. Milanna Prestley’s name had already lingered in his mind like a bad taste since their last confrontation. But this, it was something else.

He glanced over his shoulder. Ariana was curled up on the bed, a blanket draped over her, sound asleep. The faint flicker of a muted movie cast shadows on her soft features.

She didn’t deserve this. None of it. He felt guilty for dragging someone so innocent into his web of danger.

Callum moved to the balcony and called Julian.

“He reached out?” Callum asked.

“Not just that,” Julian said. “He’s threatening to expose everything.”

Callum’s jaw tensed.

“He knows about the gala, the photographs, the shift in power around you. Milanna must have gone running to him after your little encounter.”

“I told her to stay out of my life,” Callum said coldly.

“Well, she didn’t. And now her father—Prestley himself—is talking about old debts. He’s calling in favors, pressuring old allies. He wants to dismantle your empire. And he’s looking at Ariana as your ‘weakness.’”

Callum gripped the balcony railing, knuckles white. “If he so much as mentions her again, I’ll bring hell to his doorstep.”

“There will be a war. One we can’t win if you’re distracted.”

There was a long pause.

“Do I need to change her location?” Callum asked.

“Not yet. But keep her close.”

Callum returned to the bedroom. Ariana stirred when he stood beside her. Her eyes fluttered open. Her hand instinctively reached for his.

“Are you okay?” she asked, voice laced with sleep.

He leaned against the bed frame, features shadowed. He hesitated. Then nodded. “I Didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t. You look tense.” Her eyes searched his. She sat up slowly, hair tousled, the oversized shirt of his she wore slipping down one shoulder. “Was it Julian again?”

Callum nodded again, but didn’t elaborate. His expression was unreadable. Something in his silence shifted the room. She didn’t push.

Instead, she rose, stepped closer to him, and gently touched his chest. “You can talk to me, you know.”

He didn’t answer right away. “I know,” he said quietly, cupping her hand against his heart “There are some people who can’t stand to see others happy. Especially if it means losing control.”

She blinked. “This is about Milanna, isn’t it?”

His silence confirmed it.

Ariana leaned forward, brushing her fingers against his. “Is she trying something?”

Callum’s eyes locked on hers. “Not her. Her father.”

The weight of that landed heavily.

“He’s not just some businessman,” Callum explained, voice low. “He has history in industries that operate in the shadows—same as me. We’ve been on opposite sides before. Barely kept things civil because of business ties. But now…”

“But now,” Ariana repeated, “he sees you as a threat.”

“Yes. He sees you as a vulnerability and is trying to see if he can gain some leverage.” Callum corrected. “He’s wrong. But it doesn’t mean he won’t try to exploit it.”

Ariana sat back, eyes wide, heart hammering. “What happens now?”

Callum reached for her hand. “Now I keep you safe. No matter what it costs.”

.................................................

The next morning, the silence between them had changed.

Not cold—but careful.

Ariana sat at the breakfast nook, staring into her coffee while Callum reviewed encrypted messages on his phone. The quiet hum of the penthouse felt like a ticking clock between them.

“You’re sending more security, aren’t you?” she finally asked.

“I already did,” he said. “There’ll be an extra man outside the elevator. One on the roof. You would need to be escorted whenever you step out.”

She studied him. “Are you okay?”

He looked up, eyes shadowed. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

“But I do.”

Something flickered in his eyes—surprise, maybe. Or regret. “I’m used to being the one who worries.”

Just then, his private line rang. Unknown number. He almost ignored it but decided to see who it was. The voice on the other end made his blood freeze.

“Callum. You’re slipping.”

Callum stood immediately, motioning Ariana to stay seated.

“I was wondering when you’d crawl out of the hole you built,” Callum said coolly.

Gerard Prestley chuckled on the other end. “You should choose your battles more carefully. My daughter may be emotional—but I’m not. I’m calculated. And very patient.”

“What do you want?”

“Oh, I think you know. Pull back your little parade. Take the girl off the board. Or I’ll have her history smeared across every syndicate wire from here to the Gulf.”

Callum’s fists clenched.

“Try me, No one ridicules my daughter and gets away with it.” Prestley said. “You’ve worked very hard to clean up your image. I wonder what Ariana would think if she saw the real Callum Guerrero. The one you buried behind private jets and diamond rings.”

The call cut off.

Callum returned to the table, his jaw clenched. Ariana was watching him, eyes wide.

“Callum—what happened?”

He gave her a look that broke something in her chest. Pain. Conflict. And fear.

He reached for her hand but didn’t quite make contact.

“There are things I can’t tell you yet,” he said. “Not because I don’t trust you. But because once I do—you’ll never see me the same again.”

Ariana’s breath hitched. “You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

A beat passed.

She stood and wrapped her arms around his torso, holding on tight. “Whatever this is… I want to stand with you. You just have to let me in.”

He pressed his lips to her hair, then whispered, “Soon.”