Masuk"For years, I thought Julian was the only person I loved. I don't know when it happened, but you became part of everything.""I didn't understand until you left. It feels like something's been torn out of me.""I love you, Nolan. I can't let you go. I don't know how."There were more. Always more.I never answered a single one.When I ignored her calls, Vivian stood outside my yard in the pouring rain all night.I opened the door for work the next morning and startled at the sight of her, soaked through.She hurried toward me and reached out. Then she looked down at her wet clothes and drew her hand back, as if getting me damp were something unforgivable.Her eyes were bloodshot. Her voice scraped."Nolan. I'm sorry."When I helped Julian cover up the hit-and-run, I didn't know the woman he'd killed was your mother."She swallowed."I didn't know he'd done that to your father, either."Please forgive me. Hit me or curse at me. Whatever you need. Just come back. I know I wa
Vivian glared at Lily and said through gritted teeth,"Nolan is my husband. You have no—""Enough!"I stepped in front of Lily, blocking Vivian's hostile stare."Why do you want me back? So I can stay by your side as your lover?"I gave her a cold smile."What about Julian? Where does he fit into this little plan?"She froze. Her lips parted, but nothing came out."You're selfish, Vivian. And you're ridiculous. You want everything, and you expect everyone else to pay for it."I took out my phone. I was done letting her follow me.I opened a piece of evidence I'd saved."Keep harassing me, and I'll tell the world what happened the night Julian ran my mother down and drove away."I'd found the evidence by following the clues in his diary: another car's dashcam had caught the whole thing, the collision, Julian behind the wheel, and his escape.Vivian stared at the screen as if she could somehow prove it wasn't real.Slowly, her grip weakened.She let go.Her head dropped,
When Dr. Reyes heard what had happened, he agreed to keep the news from her.With his help, I cut every possible tie between Vivian and the child.My baby would have me. That was all we needed. I wanted a child who belonged completely to me.When the clinic confirmed that the embryo was healthy and developing normally, I finally began to breathe again.I settled in a quiet town where life moved slowly.My parents and I had lived there once. So had my grandparents, before they died.Their old house was still standing. I cleaned it up and moved in.I needed to earn something, so I took a job at a flower shop nearby.The owner was a young woman named Lily Morgan.She wasn't nosy. When she learned I was going to be a single father, she didn't press for details. She simply went out of her way to look after me.Life began to settle into a rhythm.To my surprise, I had a knack for arranging flowers. Customers noticed. Business picked up.As Lily and I grew closer, I started to tru
"What? What kind of stunt is Nolan pulling now?"Vivian hung up. Unease crept through her, sharp and unfamiliar.At last she drove to the hospital herself.There was a stranger in Warren Hayes's ICU bed.She called Nolan again. And again.Every call failed, the same empty tone over and over, until she couldn't stand still.She drove straight home and pushed through the door."Nolan, why aren't you answering your—"She stopped.The entryway, the living room, the bedroom — everywhere she looked, wreckage.Everything that held a memory of their life together had been destroyed. Even the enormous wedding portrait.A thought hit her. She ran into the bedroom.All eighty-one letters lay in pieces on the floor.Panic struck so hard her hands began to shake.She searched every corner of the house, desperate for some sign of him.His personal papers were gone. Everything else had been left behind.She called her assistant."Find him. Now. I want his travel records."The return
I hung up before she could finish.Pressing my cheek against Dad's urn, I whispered the same words over and over."I don't need it anymore. Your money. Your love. None of it."I'm taking you home, Dad. To our home."Numb, I carried his ashes back to the house I'd shared with Vivian for seven years.There was nothing left there for me.I wanted to take Dad back to the town where he and Mom had raised me. Warren and Diane Hayes had bought that house together. He belonged next to her.I tore up all eighty-one love letters I'd written Vivian, from childhood onward. I smashed our wedding portrait. I broke apart the furniture we'd chosen together, tore down the decorations we'd hung, and destroyed every gift she'd ever given me.Then I gathered my essential documents. Apart from Dad's ashes, they were all I took.I was heading out to catch the earliest flight when the hospital called."Mr. Hayes, we found something of your father's in his room."It was a flash drive.There was on
As my air ran out, I didn't fight her.Maybe it was the emptiness in my eyes. The despair. Whatever she saw, Vivian abruptly let go.I collapsed, coughing. My head struck the corner of the table, and blood trickled down my face.She stepped toward me as if to help.Then Julian called.His sobs carried through the phone. "Vivian, come quick. Something happened—"She left without looking back.I'd barely gotten to my feet when the hospital called about Dad's account."Mr. Hayes, your father's balance is past due again. We can't keep carrying it. If you could—"I didn't have time to fall apart.I wiped my eyes, pulled myself together, and went live again.A comment appeared almost immediately."Don't worry. We found your wife's boyfriend and taught him a lesson. We've got your back!"I thought it was just someone trying to make me feel better.I was about to thank them when the front door burst open.Half a dozen strangers in matching red shirts pushed inside. One grabbed m







