All Chapters of Marked By Mistake: The Baker's Secret: Chapter 81 - Chapter 86

Ivy's POV "You want me to help you remember." I said it slowly, turning the small, worn stone over in my own palm, Roman's explanation still settling strange and enormous in the quiet of my kitchen. "The actual memory, not simply hearing about it from me." I stressed out"I understand if that frightens you." In truth it must’ve, but I really needed to know what happened that night if we need to stop the threats circling her family and we need to find the truth as to why she’s constantly being targeted by Marisol’s ghost."Of course it frightens me." I set the stone down carefully, needing both hands free to press against my own suddenly racing heart. "Roman, that memory is not just the ambush, or Marisol, or whatever happened to you in those woods. It is also the two of us, together, for the first and only time before now. I do not know how to walk you back into that without walking back into it myself." The selfish side of me took over instantly, out of fear he’ll discover who Hazel

Roman’s POVThe memory surged forward with a violence that stole whatever breath I had left, Marisol’s scream splitting the cold air as the stranger, the one who had demanded I kneel, crossed the clearing toward her with a deliberate, terrible purpose.“No!” My younger self’s voice, raw and desperate, fought through three separate attackers as I struggled to reach her. “Leave her out of this!”The stranger didn’t even look at me. “You made your choice, Alpha. Now you watch the cost of it.”“Whatever you want, take it from me!” I snarled, driving my elbow into one attacker’s throat. “You want my territory? My title? Fine! Just let her go!” At this point i didn’t care anymore, I just wanted her safe.For the first time, the stranger turned his head. His expression held something worse than anger. Amusement.“You still think this is about what you own.”“Then tell me what the hell you want!”“I want you to understand what it means to lose something you were never worthy of keeping.”He t

Ivy’s POVRoman stood abruptly and paced toward the window, his movements restless with anger.“Five years,” he muttered. “Five years of believing I knew what happened. I blamed myself for losing her. I blamed myself for surviving. And all this time, someone else might have known the truth.”I rose and followed him.“Roman.”“What if that woman knows who ordered the attack? What if she knows why the stranger could sever my bond? What if she knows what happened after Marisol fell?”He turned toward me, his eyes bright with a fury I understood too well.“Someone has been keeping pieces of my life from me, Ivy. First the memory disappears, then the truth comes back in fragments, and now we discover a stranger carried me to safety and vanished. How many more things don’t I know?”I reached for his hand.“I don’t know. But we won’t ignore any of it.”“You’ve already done more for me than you realize.”“I should have told you the truth sooner.”“You were trying to protect me.”“And I was wr