All Chapters of Play Me Like You Mean It: Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

129 Chapters

CHAPTER 91 – Time of Death

After I took off the white dress, I stood under the shower longer than necessary, letting the water run over me like it could rinse the day away. It didn’t.When I came out, wrapped in a towel, I went straight to the closet and pulled on a black T-shirt and shorts.I stepped out of my room, not wanting to be alone with my thoughts.Jesse was already in the living room, sitting on the couch with a movie playing. He wasn’t really watching it. I could tell by the way his eyes stayed fixed on the screen without following anything.I sat beside him. We didn’t speak for a while, just two people sharing the same space, both too tired to pretend everything was normal.After a long stretch of silence, he finally spoke.“So… what’s next?” he asked. “Are you moving in with Cade?”“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “We’ll figure it out.”That was the end of the conversation.At some point, exhaustion caught up with me. I fell asleep right there on the couch, my body giving in after everything it ha

CHAPTER 92 – The Final Farewell

I couldn’t cry. I wanted to, but the tears wouldn’t come. Cade was next to me, breaking down in a way that made the air feel suffocating. His sobs came in heavy waves, his body shaking with grief so raw it felt like it might shatter him.But me? I just sat there. Empty.Everything felt too real, too final. This couldn’t be happening. My brain refused to accept it. Zayne was still here, somewhere, in a way that made this feel like a cruel joke.I somehow drove myself home. I didn’t want to be alone, but I also didn’t know how to face anyone. My body was on autopilot. I was in some sort of numb space, detached from everything.When I stepped inside, Jesse looked at me, and without a word, he knew. He didn’t ask me what happened. He just watched me walk to the couch. I sat there, my eyes fixed on nothing, feeling like I was being swallowed up by my own mind.Jesse sat quietly beside me, letting the minutes stretch into hours. No one needed to speak. At one point, I got up and went to my

CHAPTER 93 – Another Truth

I stared at him for a second too long.“What did you say?” I asked.Mice didn’t move. He repeated it slowly, like he knew my mind hadn’t caught up the first time.“I’m your father.”The words didn’t land. My first thought was that he’d said them to the wrong person.I thought of the man my mother had always called my father. The one who left. The one whose absence shaped everything. And now Mice was sitting in my living room, telling me he was my father.How?And why now?I pulled my legs closer, because suddenly they felt unreliable.“Why are you telling me this now?” I asked. My voice sounded steadier than I felt. “Why should I believe you? And where were you all these years?”He didn’t rush to answer.“You can ask your mother,” he said. “If you think I’m lying, ask her.”That alone made my stomach turn.“As for where I was,” he continued, “I didn’t know you existed.”I looked up sharply. “What?”“I didn’t,” he said. “Not until recently.”He told me the first time he saw me was on t

CHAPTER 94 – Trust Me a Little

I was already carrying too much, and Mice’s wife showing up at my doorstep was the last thing I needed.The moment she introduced herself, I knew she hadn’t come with good intentions. From the way she dressed to her body language, everything about her screamed confrontation.I considered walking past her. Closing the door. Pretending she didn’t exist.But curiosity won.“What do you want?” I asked.She didn’t answer right away. She just looked at me. Slowly. Like she was measuring me against something in her head.Then she smiled, not friendly.“I don’t care who you are,” she started. “Or what story you think you belong to.”I waited.“I’m here to make one thing clear,” she continued. “There’s no way in hell I’ll allow you to touch what belongs to my children. Their inheritance. Their future. I’ve worked too hard to let anyone ruin it.”I stood there and let her talk.She went on and on about bloodlines and legacy. Subtle threats slipped in between her words. Warnings about what happe

CHAPTER 95 – Watch Your Back

By the time I got into my car, my hands were already shaking.I slammed the door, locked it, then leaned forward until my forehead rested on the steering wheel.And that was it.The tears came.Not the small, manageable ones. The kind that make your chest hurt, your nose burn, your throat ache like you swallowed sand.I cried like I’d been holding my breath for weeks.Because I had.Zayne’s death hadn’t hit me like this. And that sounded cruel, even to me, but it was the truth. With Zayne, I went blank. I went numb. I turned into a body that moved and existed and did what was expected.But what Cade did, what he said, the way he looked at me…It cut through the numbness.It reminded me I was still alive enough to feel betrayal.I hated everything in that moment.Cade’s lack of trust. His approach to everything. How easily he believed the worst. How he sat there with anger in his eyes like I was the enemy.And I hated the version of me I’d become.I used to be broke, hustling, struggli

CHAPTER 96 – Leaving Quietly

I didn’t respond to Cade. I turned back to Zayne’s grave instead, drawing a slow breath, like I needed to pull myself together before I fell apart again. I had come here to say goodbye. Not to argue. Not to explain myself. And definitely not to stand there defending my pain.This moment wasn’t for Cade.It was for Zayne.Cade spoke again, his voice sharp behind me, asking what I was even doing there, like I had no right whatsoever to be there.I didn’t answer him.In my head, I spoke to Zayne instead.I have to go now, I told him silently. I didn’t expect him to show up here.I stood up slowly, brushed the dirt from my palms, and walked past Cade without looking at him.He reached out and grabbed my wrist.“Why?” he demanded, pulling me back.I looked down at his hand around my wrist, then calmly removed it.“You’re free to think whatever you want,” I said quietly. “I’m done explaining myself.”Then I walked away.I didn’t look back.I had packing to do.When I got home, the house was

CHAPTER 97 – Starting Over

After several hours in the air, the moment the plane touched down in Australia, I felt alive.It was like my body had been holding itself tight for too long, and now it could finally drop its shoulders.When the door opened and the first breath of air hit my face, I closed my eyes for a second.Peace.Mice, as usual, had already done what Mice always did– planned, arranged, handled. Before I could even start wondering what the next step was, we were already being guided through it.A driver and a car were waiting.Even the way our bags were collected and moved felt like a well-rehearsed routine.I got into the backseat, Jesse beside me, Romi on the other side, and as the car rolled off the airport road, I stared out the window and let the unfamiliar streets blur past.A new beginning.And for once, new didn’t scare me.The drive wasn’t short. The city slowly shifted: buildings, roads, shops, more trees, until we glided into a quiet neighborhood.When the driver turned into a gated est

CHAPTER 98 – The Quiet Before His Arrival

Once we knew the baby was a boy, the house somehow got louder.Jesse was the happiest out of all of us.“I knew it,” he said, grinning widely. “This balances the gender gang.”Romi snorted. “What gender gang?”“Him,” Jesse replied, pointing at my stomach. “Me. Male energy.”He was already planning things that made my heart ache in a good way– video games together, football in the yard, teaching him “boy stuff,” whatever that meant in Jesse’s head. He admitted he’d been worried about the amount of ganging up that would happen if the baby had been a girl.Romi, on the other hand, didn’t hide her disappointment very well.“I wanted a girl,” she admitted, folding her arms. “Just a little.”“But you still love him,” Jesse teased.“I do,” she sighed. “I just wanted someone I could dress in bows.”“You can still do that,” I said. “He won’t fight you for a while.”That seemed to cheer her up.From there, the nursery became our project.Not just mine, ours.They wouldn’t let me lift anything.

CHAPTER 99 – Born Into Love

The contractions kept coming. Slow at first. Then closer. Then sharp enough to make me stop whatever I was doing and breathe through it.I sat on the edge of the couch, my feet planted on the floor, one hand braced behind me, the other resting on my belly. In through my nose. Out through my mouth. Just like I’d been taught.I was alone in the house, but I wasn’t panicking.Not yet.My phone was still in my hand from the distraction I shouldn’t have allowed myself in the first place. Cade’s profile was open. I’d been scrolling without really thinking.I was about to log out when I saw it. He’d just made a new post. It wasn’t a picture, just words.I don’t know why my heart feels like it’s breaking and mending at the same time.I stared at it longer than I meant to.Another contraction rolled through me, stronger this time, stealing the breath from my chest. I hissed softly, leaned forward, and rubbed my belly in slow circles.“Easy,” I whispered. “We’re okay.”A strange thought crossed

CHAPTER 100 – The Man Behind the Desk

Four years later.Life no longer felt like survival. It felt… structured. Predictable in the best way.And this morning, I was late.“Baby, wake up,” I whispered, gently nudging Noah’s shoulder.He groaned dramatically and rolled onto his stomach.“Noooo,” he mumbled into his pillow.He was not a morning person. At all.“You’ll be late for school.”“Can I skip today?”I bit back a smile. “That’s not how school works.”He peeked at me with one sleepy eye. His hair was messy, falling over his forehead in soft waves. As he grows, he looks more and more like Cade… with Zayne’s hair.“Five more minutes, pleaseee.”“You said that ten minutes ago.”He sighed like the weight of the world rested on his four-year-old shoulders.My son was four.I had started school barely four months after giving birth to him. Dad had kept his word. He didn’t interfere in my academic life. No pulling strings. No secret donations. He supported me like a father should, but he let me stand on my own.I never had a

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