Chapter 18: What remains

Bronte’s POV

The days after that night felt strange.

Mom came back from her conference on Monday evening, full of stories about boring meetings and bad hotel coffee.

She hugged me tightly at the door, and for a second I almost broke down and told her everything.

The words sat on my tongue like poison. Instead, I hugged her back and forced a smile.

“Missed you, Mom.”

“I missed you too, baby.” She pulled away and looked at me carefully. “You look tired. Everything okay while I was gone?”

“Yeah. Just stayed in. Chloe came over for a night.”

Rufus appeared behind her then, kissing her cheek like the perfect husband. His eyes met mine over her shoulder looking calm, knowing and possessive.

That night, after Mom went to bed, Rufus came to my room.

He didn’t say anything at first, he just sat on the edge of my bed and pulled me into his lap, holding me against his chest.

“You’re quiet,” he murmured into my hair.

“I keep thinking about her,” I admitted. “Chloe. What if she finds out? What if she looks at me differently?”

Rufus was silent for a long moment. His fingers traced slow patterns on my back.

“She won’t find out unless you tell her,” he finally said. “And even if she does… people leave. People judge.

What matters is what you choose to keep.”

I lifted my head to look at him. “And what if I choose wrong?”

He cupped my face, his expression softer than usual. “There is no wrong choice here Bronte, Only the one that makes you feel alive and the one that makes you feel empty. You’ve already felt both.”

His words settled deep in my chest.

We didn’t have sex that night. He just held me until I fell asleep, his heartbeat steady under my ear. It was almost more intimate than anything we’d done before.

The next few days passed in a strange haze. School felt distant.

Jake’s messages grew more frequent and more desperate. He sent screenshots of company filings, cryptic notes about “irregular transactions” connected to Rufus’s firm.

I deleted most of them without reading fully. The ones I did read made my stomach twist.

On Thursday afternoon, I was sitting in the campus library when my phone buzzed.

"I found something. Something real this time, meet me after your last class. Please, I’m not trying to control you. I’m trying to protect you." This was what Jake sent to me.

I stared at the message for a long time.

Part of me wanted to ignore it while another part that still remembered the girl who once believed in simple love felt a pull toward him.

I typed back before I could stop myself.

Okay, the coffee shop near campus. 5:30.

When I looked up from my phone, my hands were shaking.

Because deep down, I already knew the truth.

No matter what Jake found and no matter what he said I wasn’t sure I could walk away from Rufus even if I wanted to.

And that terrified me more than anything else.