A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust

Gideon answered the phone and stepped out.

In the private booth, as soon as Gideon sat down, his friends gave him these pitying looks.

"Gideon, man, we know this must be tough for you. But what can you do? I mean, he's your uncle, right? You just have to roll with it."

"Exactly, Gideon. Mr. Myers isn't someone we can mess with. We're all pissed on your behalf, but what can we do?"

"Yeah, man. Chin up!"

"Here, have a drink!"

"Besides, you weren't that into Calliope anyway, right? Now you can go after Yvette instead..."

"Sure, Yvette might not have Calliope's looks or whatever, but she's your true love!"

One after another, his friends kept throwing out words of comfort.

Gideon, who had only wanted to grab a bite to eat, paused, fork in hand. He stared at them, bewildered.

"What on earth are you guys talking about? I'm married to Calliope..."

"Dude, are you out of it?" Laird reached over, feeling Gideon's forehead. "How could you be married to Calliope... when she just married Silas? My brother saw Silas's Twitter post!"

"Can't believe Calliope kept it under wraps- total shocker!"

"Right? One minute she's all about you, then boom, she's with Silas at the altar! That's some next-level stuff!"

"I'm telling you, Calliope was just using you to get close to Silas. She's played you, man."

The group started buzzing with chatter.

Gideon was still in a fog, not getting a word of what they were saying.

"What's up with my uncle? Can you guys speak in a language I understand? There's no way Calliope's involved with my uncle. What nonsense are you spouting? Laird, if you keep this up, I'm gonna get mad." Gideon said, feeling both annoyed and confused.

Laird and the others exchanged looks, something dawning on them.

"Wait, you seriously don't know?"

"The wedding blew up on social media, and you... you know nothing?"

Laird looked Gideon straight in the eye, utterly shocked. "You really don't know?"

"Know what? Stop with the riddles and tell me what's going on."

Gideon's frustration was mounting.

They were speaking in riddles, and the more they danced around the point, the more restless he became.

He didn't fully understand, but one thing was clear- this involved Calliope, and it wasn't good.

"Calliope married Silas. You didn't know?" Laird asked cautiously.

"How could Calliope marry my uncle? What nonsense are you talking about? My uncle wouldn't marry Calliope; they're from two different worlds!"

Gideon found it all a bit absurd.

His uncle was the head honcho of the Baker family, controlling everything from their family business to pretty much the whole of Capitalton. There weren't many who didn't fear him.

Calliope and Silas? No way.

Calliope only even knew his uncle because of him. Marry Silas? That was laughable. Even if Calliope wanted that, would Silas even notice her?

His uncle, that aloof, untouchable figure, practically godlike, would he even notice a woman Gideon himself had barely been interested in?

What a joke!