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2026-09-09 22:54:13
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I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 162
CALEBSeven years, and I still remember the exact color of the sky the day she saved me.I was nothing then. A boy from the wrong side of town who'd wandered too close to Jameson and his friends, who'd decided I was worth an afternoon of their fists just because I existed in a place they thought belonged to them. I was ready for it. I'd learned, by then, that being ready was the only defense a boy like me was allowed.Then she appeared, Thalia Wentworth, granddaughter of the richest family in town, screaming something about dogs she didn't even own, and they ran like she actually meant it. I watched them go and thought, for the first time in my life, that maybe the world wasn't entirely rigged against people like me.I followed her after that. Not the way it sounds, I found reasons to be near her, to walk the same streets at the same hours, to be useful in the small ways a boy with nothing could be useful.I was nice to her because I meant it, and for fourteen days I let myself believ
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 161
BRANDONI parked directly in front of the Ravens’ house and switched off the engine, but I didn’t get out immediately.The place wasn’t exactly a house in the traditional sense. The Ravens had individual apartments when they were playing in town, but this was their general base.As one of the team’s major sponsors, I had been there more times than I could count, so I knew the building almost as well as some of the players did.Today, however, everything about it felt different.My phone rang again, and when I glanced at the screen, I saw Mom’s name staring back at me. She had been calling repeatedly, but I had no intention of answering. I knew exactly what would come once I picked up—questions, concern, demands for explanations—and I simply didn’t have the patience or emotional strength to deal with any of it when I was already struggling to understand what was happening with Thalia.I watched the call ring until it stopped, just as I had done earlier, before shoving the phone into m
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 160
THALIAThe first slap hit my face so hard that for a moment, I thought I was still trapped somewhere between a nightmare and reality.My head snapped to the side, but before I could even process the pain, another blow landed across my cheek, and my eyes flew open.I stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily as I tried to remember where I was.The room was smaller than the one Caleb had kept me in before. Much smaller. Bare concrete walls surrounded me, the weak light overhead flickered every few seconds, and the air smelled damp and stale. There was nothing in the room except an old stool pushed against one wall and a mattress thrown onto the floor.A basement.My stomach tightened.I tried to sit up quickly, but my body refused to cooperate. My arms were numb and heavy, my legs ached from being restrained for so long, and when I pushed myself upright, my balance gave way almost immediately. I fell face-first onto the cold floor, pain shooting through my cheek and jaw as I tried to cat
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 159
THALIAThe moment Caleb left and I heard the lock click behind him, I stopped pretending to be the woman he wanted me to be.I stayed where I was for a few seconds, listening carefully as his footsteps disappeared down the hallway. My heart was still pounding from the conversation we had just had, and the smile I had forced onto my face was still sitting painfully on my lips, but underneath it, my mind was already working.I looked down at my wrists, rubbing them slowly as I tried to get the feeling back into my hands. They were sore from being restrained for so long, and my shoulders ached from the position he had forced me to remain in, but none of that mattered anymore.I had spent the last two hours thinking about every possible way out of this room, and now I finally had the freedom to try.I got off the bed and immediately went to the door.Locked.Of course.I grabbed the handle with both hands and pulled as hard as I could, but it barely moved. I tried again, putting my weight
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 158
BRANDONI touched my cheek where Adrian's fist had landed, still trying to process what had just happened. The sting was spreading across my face, but it was the fury in his eyes that held my attention, because there was something almost frightening about the way he was looking at me.“What the fuck was that for, Vale?”Adrian didn't answer immediately. He stood a few feet away, breathing heavily, his hands still clenched into fists at his sides as though he was forcing himself not to come at me again.For a moment, the only sound in the room was the television behind Olivia, where Thalia's photograph remained frozen on the screen.Then Adrian lifted his eyes to mine.“What the hell did you do to her?”My brows pulled together.“What are you talking about?”He crossed the distance between us before I could say anything else.“You bastard.”His fist caught me across the jaw, and my head snapped sideways from the force of it. I stumbled backward, one hand instinctively going to my face
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 157
BRANDONI was still on the phone with the Commissioner of Police when I looked up and saw Thalia’s face on the television again.For the past several minutes, the news had been running the same report on repeat, and each time her picture appeared on the screen, something inside my chest tightened all over again. There she was, smiling in a photograph that had probably been taken on an ordinary day, completely unaware that her face would soon be plastered across television screens because the people who loved her were desperately trying to find her.Missing.The word sat heavily in my mind.I had spent the last few minutes listening to the Commissioner explain what they were doing, where they were looking, and the steps the police were taking, but none of it felt like enough. Not when every second mattered. Not when I had no idea where she was or what she might be going through.I turned away from the television and pressed the phone closer to my ear.“Please,” I said, and I hated how
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON FIVE
BRANDONThe first thing I felt was anger.It sat heavy in my chest all afternoon, refusing to fade.I stood in my office at Langford Pharmaceuticals, staring through the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city. Traffic crawled below like ants. People moved through their ordinary lives, wh
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON FOUR
THALIAI had just placed the cardboard box in the passenger seat and was about to start the engine when someone called my name.“Thalia!”The voice came from behind me.I froze for a second before turning around.Brandon was walking out of the company building, his expression already dark with ange
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON THREE
THALIAThe meeting dragged on for nearly forty minutes.Charts flashed across the screen as Dr. Harlan talked about revised timelines for Project Elara. Clara stood beside him, explaining sections of the presentation as if she had always been part of the team.I stayed quiet.My pen tapped against
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON TWO
THALIABy the time the car rolled through the iron gates of the estate, the tightness in my chest had already become hard to ignore.Thomas stopped in front of the entrance and stepped out to open my door.“Welcome home, ma’am.”I nodded faintly and walked inside.The house was quiet. Too quiet.Wi
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