Cassius POV

Callista's words hung heavy in the air, thick and suffocating. My daughter, Jessica, the little firecracker with eyes that mirrored the summer sky, was mine. A pup I hadn't known existed, a piece of me ripped away and hidden for years.

Anger, hot and burning, threatened to consume me. How could she keep this from me? All those nights spent yearning for a family and a connection, and she'd had it all along. The years of longing and the emptiness that gnawed at me—a constant reminder of the love I'd lost—were all a lie?

I clenched and unclenched my fists, the urge to roar ripping through me. But...