Chapter 32: The Family Portrait
Caleb stared at the cracked screen of his old phone, reading the line of text that had just popped up.
[Fiona: Caleb, maybe you don’t remember me well, but I’m Fiona. I know you’re in some kind of trouble... maybe I can help a little with my mom’s connections...]
A thin smile crept under his black mask. Caleb didn’t type back right away—he had no intention of replying quickly. He just sat there, letting that name—Fiona—echo in his head.
Maya’s youngest daughter. The thought felt absurd and tempting at the same time. Caleb let out a short snort, eyes still glued to the screen.
"Your mom’s connections? Funny. You don’t even know you were born from the cunt of the woman who ruined my mother’s life..."
He closed the phone and set it down on a table littered with ash and empty bottles. Instead of answering, Caleb leaned back, letting memories of the past bleed together with a creeping sense of curiosity.
Remembering how he used to see Fiona as innocent, sweet, and caring—it made him burn a little inside. The feelings back then weren’t fake. Fiona’s kindness wasn’t fake either. Both were real. But Caleb’s hatred for Maya was already past the point of no return. Even if Fiona was a good girl, she was still Maya’s daughter.
"I need to beat her... even if she was a good girl," he muttered, staring at the ceiling, already piecing together a plan for revenge.
"I need to get to Metroland," he thought as he pushed himself up to sit straighter. "Sarah..."
Opening social media again, he scrolled to Sarah’s last post. Home sweet home. The tagged location read Metroland, Golden Valley, the upscale district.
Caleb let out a long breath, his empty gaze fixed on the stained ceiling. His thoughts spun—if Sarah was in Golden Valley, that elite neighborhood, then there was a good chance Maya was there too. That woman was never the type to live simply, not after everything that had happened.
But something kept gnawing at him: Maya’s other three kids. Caleb didn’t know what they looked like, but judging by Fiona’s good looks, he figured the rest must be just as striking.
Why don’t I just check Fiona’s account directly? he thought.
His hand reached for the phone again. He quickly pulled up Fiona’s profile on DuDuGram. His thumb scrolled through the feed. Aesthetic shots filled the screen—latte art in cafes, candid poses in the glow of sunset, neatly stacked books. Everything looked harmless, almost too pure.
But then his eyes froze on one post. A family photo.
Four women stood close together, clearly of different ages, but with the same aura—Maya’s blood in every one of their faces. Beside them was a woman about the same age as his own mother, her faint smile carrying a quiet authority. And at the edge of the frame, a man stood tall and composed.
Caleb froze. The phone nearly slipped from his grasp. His eyes widened, breath catching in his throat.
"...Dad?" he whispered.
The past slammed into him all at once. The man who was supposed to be gone from his life—now standing beside Maya and her daughters. Surrounded by wealth and luxury.
Caleb stared at the family photo for a long moment, then his fingers started moving fast. He checked through each tag one by one. Three other women—clearly Fiona’s sisters. Their profiles overflowed with luxury: overseas vacations, rooftop parties, designer fashion brands. Every post screamed of a glamorous, carefree life.
But his eyes finally stopped on one tag that cut the deepest. Maya.
Caleb tapped it open.
The screen filled with photos of Maya—her graceful smile, her still-stunning figure despite age, that irresistible aura of elegance. Caleb couldn’t look away. The longer he stared, the harder it was to tear his eyes off. Heat surged through him, something he couldn’t control.
"Fuck..." he muttered, the brim of his cap casting his face in shadow. A low laugh slipped out of his throat, shaky at first, then growing darker.
"...I’m actually hard over this woman."
He covered half his face with one hand, shoulders shaking with short bursts of laughter. His grin widened—cold, twisted, satisfied.
"Shit... maybe this revenge is gonna be way more fun than I thought."
The Common Sense Hijack System still hovered faintly in front of him, the last notifications lingering. But now, Maya’s elegant face glowing on the DuDuGram feed felt like a brand-new stage. Caleb straightened up, eyes glinting sharp with anticipation.
Caleb set his phone down on the dusty table, then slowly pulled off his mask and cap. The cold night air brushed against his face, pores tingling open. He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in the dampness of the decayed building.
The realization crept in—tonight, he had killed three people.
Not with his bare hands, not with a knife or a bullet. Just with a string of absurd words typed into the system’s screen.
And the result? Corpses scattered in the middle of a crowded square. Not a single trace pointing back to him.
Caleb lifted his hand, staring at his own fingers. They looked ordinary, harmless... yet just moments ago, they’d acted as an executioner through that strange, ghostly keyboard.
"So easy..." he whispered, voice low, almost like a breath. His lips curled into a thin smile. "No blood on my hands, no witnesses. Just... typing."
Straightening up, his eyes returned to the phone, still buzzing faintly with notifications. His thoughts spun faster.
"Maybe it’s smarter to use Fiona. Squeeze her for information... safer that way."
But then, another image slipped into his mind. A memory—back when he was just a skinny, hungry kid at school. His stomach growled because he didn’t bring lunch money. And he remembered... a little girl with pigtails holding out a piece of bread without hesitation.
"Take it, it’s fine. I’ve got more," Fiona’s young voice echoed faintly.
Caleb let out a short scoff, lowering his head slightly. That warmth wasn’t a lie. Fiona’s kindness back then had been real. Just as real as his hatred for Maya now.
He pressed two fingers against his temple, a thin smile tugging at his lips.
"She really was kind. Innocent." Caleb’s grin widened.
"So was my mom."
Suddenly—
Bzzt!
His phone buzzed again on the table. The sound cut through the silence of the decrepit room like a blade. Caleb’s eyes opened slowly, cold gaze snapping straight to the screen.
A new notification popped up.
DuDuGram. Another DM.
One eyebrow arched. His hand reached for the phone, thumb sliding over the lock screen.
And in that instant, his breath hitched.
Caleb’s eyes widened—stunned.