Chapter Thirty-Seven

A tall man in a crisp navy suit, polished shoes, and a smug, manufactured smile stepped into her path — like he’d been waiting for this exact moment.

Mr. Hamilton.

“Ms. Kaelani,” he said smoothly, hands clasped in front of him like a polite predator. “Out for a stroll, I see. What a coincidence, running into you.”

Kaelani didn’t stop walking, just gave a tight-lipped smile and an audible huff of irritation. “Yes… what a coincidence.”

Unbothered, he matched her pace. “Since we’re both here, perhaps we can revisit our conversation from last month. I think you’ll find our new offer—”

“Look, Mr. Anderson—”

“Hamilton,” he corrected, still smiling.

“Yeah. Whatever.” She didn’t bother hiding her disdain. “My answer hasn’t changed.”

He opened his mouth, but she didn’t give him the chance.

“I’m not selling. Not now. Not ever. You and your corporate goons can take your shady money and build your stupid casino somewhere else. Not here. Not in this town.”

Her voice was calm, but there was steel beneath it. The kind that shut doors — permanently.

Mr. Hamilton offered a placid smile, brushing nonexistent dust from his sleeve.

“You know, Ms. Kaelani… It’s admirable — really — how protective you are of that little place. But sentimentality doesn’t secure your future. One day, you’ll realize legacy means nothing without leverage. Especially for someone like you.”

Kaelani stopped in her tracks.

Her jaw clenched as her grip tightened on the wagon’s handle.

“Someone like me?” she echoed, voice deceptively calm.

He lifted a brow, clearly amused. “I only meant a small-town girl running a modest bakery—”

“No, I heard exactly what you meant,” she cut in, taking a step closer, her voice low but razor-sharp. “You think just because I don’t have millions or power or a last name that makes headlines, I’m supposed to bow to people like you. Let you bulldoze over the heart of this town for a few extra zeroes in your bank account?”

Her throat tightened, but her tone stayed controlled — cool and devastating.

“Well, I don’t give a damn about leverage. Or your legacy. And I sure as hell don’t need a man in a tailored suit telling me what I’ll regret someday. You and your developers can keep sniffing around, but I’m not selling. So unless you’re putting an order in for muffins, don’t approach me again.”

Mr. Hamilton gave a polite nod, but the mask had slipped — she saw the twitch in his jaw before he turned.

Kaelani exhaled sharply and pulled the wagon forward, her stride brisk. But the burn lingered — beneath her ribs, behind her eyes — because as much as she hated it, his words still clung to her like smoke.

Kaelani’s boots struck the pavement with a little more force than usual as she walked, her jaw tight, brows furrowed. The nerve of that man. “Someone like you,” he had said. As if her kindness, her work, her roots in this town made her small — disposable.

She shook her head, gripping the wagon handle tighter as she rounded the next block. Still seething. She just needed a moment to breathe, to push the heat from her chest back down where it belonged.

But as she turned the corner, she froze.

Standing there, in the middle of the sidewalk like the universe had a twisted sense of humor, was him.

Julian.

Tall. Immaculate. And so very out of place in her small-town Saturday.

She rolled her eyes and muttered, “Ugh… what is it? Asshole day?”

Julian’s lips twitched into something self-deprecating. “I deserve that.”

Kaelani didn’t respond.

He nodded slowly, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I’ve been an asshole. A big one.”

Her brow arched. “Just realized that, huh?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” His tone was low. Honest. “Sad that it wasn’t sooner.”

They stared at each other for a long, quiet moment. Her eyes searched his, not with softness, but with wary confusion — like she was trying to piece together a puzzle that kept rearranging itself.

He looked down, then back at her. “I ran into… Tessa. She told me about you taking goodies to the learning center. Volunteering with the kids.”

There was something almost reverent in the way he said it. Admiration, maybe. The kind that stung more than flattery.

Not because it wasn’t genuine — but because it was. And because it came from him.

From the one person who didn’t get to see her now and act like he’d always seen her.

Not after everything.

“That’s really cool,” he added, voice gentler than she expected.

She didn’t reply.

Then, his jaw ticked. “She also mentioned something about setting you up with some guy.” His gaze darkened. “Michael.”

A shadow fell across his face — not rage, not simple jealousy, but something unmistakably possessive curling at the edge of his voice. “Who’s Michael?”

Kaelani huffed in disbelief and shook her head, stepping past him.

He turned to follow. “You’re always walking away from me.”

She spun around, exasperated. “Because you don’t make any damn sense!” Her voice wasn’t loud, but sharp enough to cut. “Not to me… and honestly? I don’t think you make sense to yourself at this point.”

“You don’t get it,” he said, voice low. “It’s not what you think. I’m not— I didn’t mean for any of it to go like this.”

Kaelani stared, expression unreadable. “What exactly did you mean, Julian?”

He shook his head, frustrated. “I don’t know. Everything’s just… screwed up. I thought distance was the answer, but it only made everything worse. I thought I was doing the right thing, but it felt wrong. And then when I saw you… at the center, and you were like—”

He stopped. Jaw clenched. Eyes darted away.

“I was like what?” she challenged.

He looked at her — torn open, not even sure what he was trying to say.

“I don’t know,” he said hoarsely. “Like nothing makes sense unless you’re in it. But when you’re in it… I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

She stared at him like he’d grown two heads. “What the hell are you even talking about?”

He dragged a hand down his face. “Ugh… I’m not good at this, okay?”

“Well… you’re damn good at confusing the hell out of me,” she muttered, turning her back on him again.

That was it. Something inside him snapped — not in anger, but panic. A silent desperation surged forward before he could think.

Julian reached out, grabbed her arm, and spun her around.

She barely had time to gasp before his mouth was on hers.

It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t careful. It was raw — the kind of kiss born of restraint, regret, and longing. His hand slid to her waist, pulling her in with a force that said he couldn’t stand the space between them a second longer. Their mouths collided, breath tangled, tongues searching with reckless urgency.

Kaelani melted into him before she could stop herself. She kissed him back — gods, she kissed him back — her fingers curling into his shirt, her body betraying every ounce of her better judgment.

He groaned against her lips like he’d just tasted something forbidden and divine. Her mouth, her scent, her softness — it was too much and not enough. His heart slammed against his ribs, wild with something silent and sacred, like she’d just rewritten the language of his soul.

And then… she opened her eyes.

The spell cracked.

What am I doing? Her mind screamed.

This is the same man who made you feel utterly worthless.

She broke the kiss with a breathless gasp, shoving him back with both hands—then came the slap.

Julian staggered a step, stunned, his eyes wide and lips still parted — like he hadn’t expected her to wake up from the brief slice of paradise they’d both just fallen into.

Kaelani stared at him — chest rising, lips trembling, caught between disbelief and fury. A shaky laugh escaped her, sharp and broken, like it surprised even her.

Then her voice cut through the tension:

“You have a lot of nerve,” she said, a storm gathering behind her eyes. “Fucking with my head after everything you did.”

Julian’s brows drew together. He took a step forward, palms out slightly. “Kaelani, I’m not trying to mess with your head—”

“No?” she snapped, her voice cracking as she cut him off. “Then what the hell are you doing, Julian? What—do you expect me to be your Omega side chick? Your little fuck toy while your Luna’s off at some luxury resort sipping champagne and getting her ass exfoliated with diamond dust?

His whole body jerked like she’d struck him again.

“What? No! That’s not—”

“No.”

She stopped him mid-sentence, her voice trembling — not from weakness, but from the sheer force of everything she’d been holding back.

“It’s my turn to speak.”

“When you were busy worrying about your title, your duty, your picture-perfect life…”

Her eyes shimmered, tears threatening to fall.

“Did you ever once stop to think about what was going on in my head?”

Julian froze. Her words hitting like stones.

“That night… I didn’t know what was happening to me,” she whispered. “I was scared. I felt… alone. But with you…”

She looked at him, eyes glinting with something that still wanted to believe.

“For a second, I thought maybe…”

Julian stepped closer — drawn to the crack in her armor, waiting, praying for her to finish the sentence. Desperate for a way in.

But she looked away, swallowed the words down hard — and just like that, the door slammed shut.

“You know what? Forget it. Hope is for the weak. All it ever does is break you.”

“Kaelani,” he breathed, reaching for her. “Please… just let me—”

She flinched, stepping back.

“No. Don’t.”

Her voice cracked, but her stare held.

“You don’t get to come here and jerk me around just because you don’t know what you want.”

She turned and walked — fast — wiping at her face. Not letting the tears fall. Not yet. Not until she was out of reach.

Julian stood there like he’d been punched in the gut, fists curling in his hair like he might rip it all out just to make sense of what had just slipped through his fingers.

He stood in the middle of the sidewalk, paralyzed, hands still tangled in his hair.

“What do I do?” he whispered to no one. His voice broke, raw and panicked. “What the hell do I do…”

He looked down the street where she’d disappeared, his heart pounding like it was trying to escape his chest. Everything in him screamed to chase her—but his feet refused to move.

He stood there, lost and completely unraveling.

And she’d seen it all.

Across the road, tucked behind the dark tint of an idling black SUV, Elara sat motionless in the passenger seat.

Her breathing was shallow, her jaw locked tight—but the tears that slipped down her cheeks betrayed the storm building beneath the surface. Her hands curled into fists on her lap, nails biting into skin.

And behind those tears… was fury.

Cold, wild, and absolute.