Page 5 of Fame & Chaos

My chest tightened painfully.

Was it me?

Had I done something wrong?

I didn’t understand why everyone kept crying every time I spoke.

“No, honey. We need to go,” Mum said quietly, opening the front door.

“Mum, what’s happening?”

Her face crumpled. “Please, Caleb. Let’s go home and talk there.”

I pulled away from her grip, frustration bubbling up through my confusion. “No. Tell me now.”

“Caleb—”

“No!”

I started walking back toward the living room, desperate to get back to Colt…

To my dad.

“Caleb!” Mum rushed after me and grabbed my shoulders, spinning me around to face her. Tears streamed down her face now, and I knew whatever she was about to say was going to hurt.

Badly.

“Okay,” she whispered shakily. “But you’re not going to like this.”

Fear crawled down my spine.

“I just need you to know I love you more than anything.”

I frowned up at her. “Okay…”

She slowly crouched down in front of me. “Mummy made a mistake, Caleb.” The coldness in her voice made my stomach drop. “A really terrible mistake.”

“Well… fix it then,” I said quietly.

A broken little smile crossed her face before disappearing just as fast. “I can’t.”

My chest started pounding harder. “What did you do?”

She took a shaky breath. “You know how I told you Colt was your father?”

The entire world seemed to stop moving.

I nodded slowly.

“Well…” She looked down at the ground like she couldn’t bear to look at me. “I was wrong, baby.” Something inside me cracked. “Your Uncle Hux is your real father.”

The words barely registered at first, and I frowned, staring at her blankly, trying to make sense of what she’d just said.

“So…” My throat tightened painfully. “Colt isn’t my dad?”

She shook her head through tears.

“And Uncle Hux is?”