Chapter 53

Chapter 53

As the door shut behind Mikhail and Olivia, Clarke remained rooted in place, his eyes locked on Calliope. He studied her, trying to understand what was going on in her head, but the more he looked, the more he realized he was failing to grasp it. His confusion simmered, finally spilling out into words.

"Why?" His voice was laced with disbelief. "Why did you have to do that? You knew the boy would be hurt if you said that."

There was a hint of guilt in his tone—not just for Hunter, but for himself, because deep down, Clarke already knew the answer to his own question. Yet, he needed to hear her say it. But Calliope remained silent, her gaze distant, as if she hadn’t heard him at all.

The silence weighed on him until it snapped something inside. "Say something, Calliope!" he burst out, his voice sharper than intended, his frustration clear.

But when she finally met his eyes, it wasn’t her tears that made him falter. It was the hollow look in them—the emptiness that had swallo