Neptune

Chapter 62 | The Only Hope

C A S S I E

Seven years ago

Eight months pregnant

My eyes scanned the titles of the books on the bookstore shelf. I was trying to find a book about parenting—I wanted to be a good mother for my child.

I could just browse through articles on the web, but spending time outside my house once in a while didn't hurt.

In fact, I preferred being outside my house because Morgan scared me. Being inside my house wasn't safe anymore.

"Look, she's really pregnant," I heard a girl whisper around me. "People say that she doesn't even know who the father is."

"How could she be so stupid?" another girl whispered. "No wonder he left her."

Being outside my house had disadvantages too. People at my school had started spreading rumors about me after seeing me with a huge belly.

I'd gotten familiar with the shock on their faces.

I snapped my head toward the girls who were just talking about me, shooting them a glare. They gulped and abruptly walked off, dropping a magazine onto the floor.

Sighing, I picked it up from the floor and was about to put it back on the shelf when something caught my attention.

It was a business magazine, and one of the headlines on the cover piqued my interest.

The family tragedy that befell Klein Enterprise and what we can learn about them.

My eyebrow raised. Family tragedy. How interesting. I'd never thought that a family tragedy could impact the business world significantly.

I flipped through the pages, and when I reached the page that I was looking for, I froze.

There on the page was a picture of a family of four posing for an elegant family portrait. The parents had two sons, and one of them made my eyes widen in shock.

It was Luke. I couldn't have been mistaken. With those hazel eyes. With that piercing stare. He looked much younger, though.

The family picture seemed to have been taken when he was still a teenager, but I was more than sure that it was Luke.

I read through the article. The names. Arthur Klein... His successor, Victor... His second son, Lucas...

Lucas. Lucas Klein.

Luke.

My hand was shaking when I gripped the magazine tightly—I was afraid that I would drop it. It was too precious for me to let it slip from my hand.

I had found him.

*

Two days after I found the article about Luke's family in the magazine, I was in New York, at the headquarter of Klein Enterprise.

I'd left my house before dawn to take the first flight from LA. I hadn't told Morgan, and she would be furious if she knew that I'd escaped.

I was expecting her to call me later in the day, but I didn't think that I would be brave enough to pick up the call.

I'd used all my savings to buy the plane ticket—thank God I hadn't used all my money for the trip to Hallstatt.

I'd planned to use it to buy necessities for my baby, and the fact that I'd used it to see Luke instead made me worry.