CHAPTER 58: THE FATHERS LOVE

"Alright, young master. I’ll pass the information to your father. I’m truly sorry for your loss," Herald’s voice came through the phone, laced with sorrow.

The news hadn’t sat well with him either.

Julia was a genuinely kind person—Herald could attest to that.

So hearing of her death had deeply pained him.

Herald ended the call and let out a long, weary sigh.

Then, without wasting time, he dialed his boss’s number.

It didn’t take long before a response came from the other end.

"Herald, I was just about to call you," Jin’s voice rang out, laced with mild surprise.

He had been meaning to reach out—curious about Caleb’s sudden rise in prominence.

Initially, he hadn’t paid much attention to it.

That was, until late the previous night.

Caleb had truly amused him with his performance involving Eldora.

At first, when Caleb placed his bid, Jin had worn a look of ridicule.

And who wouldn’t?

For a moment, it seemed like Caleb was just trying to flaunt wealth he had only recently acquired—

A move that appeared reckless and immature.

But Jin quickly realized Caleb wasn’t being foolish.

He hadn’t entered the bidding war blindly.

Each bid Caleb made was deliberate—calculated.

Jin had also noticed Eldora’s subtle behavior throughout the auction.

And having known Eldora’s habit of collecting rare and unique items, he was stunned that Caleb—within just minutes of being in the same room—

Had already read Eldora like an open book.

He had figured out how to use his wealth to manipulate the crowd—without actually spending much of it.

And more importantly, he’d observed Eldora’s habit of targeting rare and unique items.

Caleb picked up on all of this—and cleverly used it to win a bid against Eldora.

Already shaken after Caleb exposed his tactics, Eldora began to view him as a potential threat. In the end, he backed out of the bidding war just as Caleb dramatically raised the item’s price.

What Jin couldn’t determine was whether Caleb genuinely wanted the item—or if the entire act had been staged to impress him.

Either way, Caleb had achieved both outcomes.

Jin was genuinely impressed by how the entire scene played out.

But more than that—it piqued his curiosity. He began digging into Caleb’s background.

And what he uncovered was... unusual.

Caleb’s sudden rise felt too sharp, too suspicious to be mere coincidence.

Fortunately, Jin had a reliable source for such matters.

As was his custom, he had assigned a personal assistant to each of his children.

Herald was the one appointed to Caleb.

While it might’ve looked like an act of fatherly love, it was anything but.

Jin didn’t assign assistants out of care—he did it to keep close tabs on them.

These assistants played the role of surrogate guardians, building trust and bonds with the children... while secretly feeding every bit of information back to him.

It was an effective way for Jin to detect if any of his children harbored ulterior motives.

He treated each of them like an investment—and every investment required caution.

At the end of the day, it was all business.

"Would that be because of the young master?" Herald asked calmly, already anticipating the call.

He knew it was only a matter of time.

Jin rarely reached out. To him, Caleb had always been the least competitive of all his children—aside from his consistently excellent academic performance in high school and college, he had shown little ambition.

Nonchalant.

Stubborn.

And utterly disinterested in business or Jin’s empire.

For the longest time, Jin had forgotten about him, only sending Herald the occasional funds for Caleb’s upkeep.

But with Caleb’s recent meteoric rise, Jin’s attention inevitably shifted.

Just as Herald had expected, the call finally came.

"I’ve been keeping a close eye on him lately. It all seemed to start with his relationship with Miss Naya. I can only assume she’s his backing—which, to be fair, is a strong start for him," Herald replied honestly.

Jin didn’t respond right away.

He sat silently behind his desk, fingers tapping rhythmically against the polished surface.

Something didn’t sit right with him. He couldn’t quite place it, but his instincts told him there was more beneath the surface.

"That’s good," he finally said. Then, without wasting another second, he shifted the topic. "Now tell me—what do you need? Why did you call?"

Herald let out a soft sigh. It was time to deliver the bad news.

"Sir, the second daughter... Julia—she’s dead."

Silence.

Neither Herald nor Jin spoke a word.

Then, the line went dead.

Herald slowly lowered the phone from his ear, his expression unreadable. "I guess no matter how hard he pretends to be... at the end of the day, he still has a soft spot for his children. But I still don’t understand his reasons for all this," he murmured, his eyes drifting toward the night sky, lost in thought.

Meanwhile, Jin sat behind his desk, his hands clenched tightly.

His fists were so tight, his nails cut into his palms—drawing blood.

The anger and guilt surging inside him threatened to overwhelm him.

He turned his gaze to the corner of the desk, where a small, framed photograph sat.

A woman stared back at him, her bright green eyes calm and full of life.

’Martha... forgive me,’ he thought, exhaling deeply.

He reached for his phone and quickly tapped on a pinned number in his call list.

It rang for less than a second before the other end picked up.

"Yes, Sir Jin," his secretary answered promptly.

He moved the phone slightly away from his face, a single tear escaping down his cheek as he sniffled.

Then, regaining his composure, he returned the phone to his ear and spoke with a cold, stoic tone.

"My daughter is dead. We’ll be preparing for her funeral. Inform her siblings. Get all the details from Herald. I’ll be back to work on Monday. Brief me then."

He didn’t wait for a response before ending the call.

With a sudden surge of emotion, he slammed his hands onto the desk.

"I’m sorry I lost our daughter... even though I promised you. But all this—" his voice broke, "we’re doing it to save them, right? What’s the point if we lose them along the way?"

He looked once more at the picture on his desk, eyes brimming with pain.

Two promises... both sacred. Now, they stood in contradiction.

And Jin was torn between them: saving his children from the cruel fate that awaited them, or enduring the agony of losing every piece of love he once held dear.