Chapter 5: Next Time, I'll Fight You Again

On the ferry from Catalina Island back to the mainland.

"Sebastian, what exactly are you doing out on that half-abandoned island? The Sinclairs are the ones developing it, not the Coles."

The man asking had a boyish, easy face. He hooked a fish off his line, glanced at it, then tossed it straight back into the water without a second thought.

Beside him stood a man who looked almost too striking to be real sharp cheekbones, a mouth that rarely moved, and a pair of lazy, hooded eyes that gave nothing away. A single dark mole sat just beneath his left eye, the kind of detail that made strangers look twice.

From any distance, Sebastian Cole read as untouchable. Cold money in human form.

He turned the lighter over once in his fingers, not bothering to look up. "Looking for someone."

Miles let the question drop. He already knew, in the vague way everyone around Sebastian eventually learned things, that there was a woman Sebastian had been quietly obsessed with for years one nobody had ever actually laid eyes on.

And now, apparently, the Sinclairs' real daughter had turned up out of nowhere.

The same daughter Sebastian was still technically engaged to.

Miles was working up the nerve to bring it up when Sebastian's phone buzzed against the railing.

Sebastian's expression shifted barely, but Miles caught it. "Someone finally took the commission."

His eyes narrowed, something unreadable moving behind them.

By the time Sebastian's flight touched down in Crestview, Naomi was already parked outside Lily's kindergarten, waiting for pickup.

Because of her health and the years spent recovering on Catalina, Lily had started school a full year behind her brother. She was still finishing her final year of kindergarten and wouldn't move up to elementary until the spring term. Julian, meanwhile, was already comfortably settled into first grade.

Naomi was leaning against her car near the kindergarten gate when Chloe's voice carried over from the elementary school lot next door.

"Ms. Carter, Ethan called ahead I'll be handling pickup for Julian from now on."

Naomi glanced over. Chloe stood there in a designer dress that looked like it belonged on a runway, effortlessly polished, smiling like she owned the sidewalk.

Julian spotted her and broke into a run, backpack bouncing, practically glowing.

Ms. Carter hesitated, glancing between them. "Usually it's Julian's mother who picks him up. Are you his"

Julian cut her off before she could finish. "Not my mom," he said, very seriously. "That's just our old housekeeper. This is my mom."

He didn't want the other kids thinking his real mother was some plain, useless woman from nowhere.

Someone like Aunt Chloe that was the kind of mother worth having.

The words landed clean and clear in Naomi's ears from across the lot. She went still for a second, feet rooted to the pavement.

Nearby, something flickered across Chloe's face quick, calculating before she let it settle into a soft, unbothered smile. She didn't correct him.

Ms. Carter double-checked the pickup authorization before finally letting them go.

Naomi had already made peace, in theory, with losing this particular fight. And still, something in her chest went cold anyway.

She'd never imagined that all those years of careful attention would end with her own son mistaking her for hired help.

"Mom."

Lily's voice broke through, small and steady.

Naomi blinked back into focus. Her daughter stood there with her backpack slung over one shoulder, curls windblown, chin lifted with that same unbothered calm she always carried and it melted something loose in Naomi's chest instantly.

She smiled. Whatever her son had turned into, she still had this one.

Except

Naomi frowned, noticing a smudge across Lily's cheek, and had just opened her mouth to ask what happened when a piercing wail cut across the lot.

"MOM! Lily hit me!"

Naomi's eyes shot to her daughter. Lily looked completely unbothered.

Before Naomi could ask, the crying boy's mother got there first. "Why did she hit you?"

The boy sniffled. "Because I pulled Reagan's ponytail."

Understanding clicked into place. Lily hadn't started anything she'd stepped in to stop him from yanking another little girl's hair.

Lily nodded along, entirely matter-of-fact. "Next time, I'll hit him again."

Naomi bit back a laugh despite herself. Her daughter looked entirely too pleased with the outcome.

"Lily, your body's still recovering you could get hurt in a fight like that. And hitting isn't how we solve problems. Next time, go find a teacher."

She was about to turn and smooth things over with the other mother when a familiar voice cut in, sweet and pointed.

"Naomi's clearly a dedicated mother," Chloe said, smiling. "Though maybe with all that time on Catalina Island, away from a proper environment, it's affected Lily a little. Cutting her hair short, getting into fights... I do worry it might shape her character long-term."

Beside her, Julian eyed Lily's cropped curls and scowled.

"Aunt Chloe's right, Mom. Dad and Grandma don't like Lily acting like this either. She's going to turn into trouble if it keeps up."

A girl with short hair who throws punches. Mom's ruining her.

Before Naomi could respond, Lily beat her to it, voice flat and completely unbothered.

"Someone who mistakes a thief for his mother doesn't get to lecture me."

She added, almost as an afterthought, "Besides. Mom says nobody gets to decide what a girl's supposed to be like anymore."

Julian's face went red. He'd clearly never had anyone talk to him like that in his life.

Chloe recovered smoothly, voice syrup-sweet. "Naomi, I really don't think it's healthy to let her talk like that. I know you grew up without much guidance yourself, but you can't raise your children so... unevenly."

Naomi cut in before she could finish, calm and level. "I don't think my daughter did anything wrong, Chloe. She stood up for another kid who was being bullied. I don't know what the correct mold for a little girl is supposed to be, but I'd rather she grow up decent than polished. As for playing favorites"

She thought, briefly, of every year she'd spent terrified of neglecting her son. The years of home-cooked porridge, the trips to Catalina she'd offered him first, every ounce of effort poured toward a boy who'd chosen someone else anyway.

Her eyes dropped to Julian, something aching and disappointed settling behind them.

"Julian. I know Zining shouldn't have said that to you. But you're the one who likes Chloe more. You're the one who talks back to me and tunes me out, all for her. Why would you expect me to keep loving you unconditionally, the way I have all these years?"

Julian's frown deepened, sullen.

What is she even talking about? Of course she should love me more, I'm her son. And Aunt Chloe's just better than her that's not favoritism, that's just true. She's only saying this because she's jealous.

The other mother arrived just then, tugging her son along by the hand. He'd stopped crying, chin held high with sudden, wounded pride.

"It really was my fault first," he announced. "Lily's not wrong. She's basically a knight."

A reformed soldier, apparently, Naomi thought, almost smiling.

The mother laughed and apologized again, then glanced curiously between Chloe and Julian. "Are these two yours as well? And is this young woman"

"Julian's father and I are separated," Naomi said simply. "She's here to pick him up."

The other mother's expression shifted, something knowing creeping into her tone. "Oh so you're the nanny. Well, in that case, you might want to stay out of your employer's business going forward. People might start thinking Ms. Chloe's just angling to replace the wife…”