Chapter 6 #2
"I never gave up. I kept files. Collected every scrap of information I could find.
Every public appearance, every photograph, every rumor.
I watched Vernon for years, looking for an opening, looking for a way to get to you.
" The words poured out of me now, years of silence finally breaking.
"I hired three different private investigators over the years.
The first one took my money and disappeared.
The second one returned everything I'd paid him and told me to stop looking, that there were people who would hurt me if I kept digging.
The third one actually got close. Found a former housekeeper who was willing to talk.
Three days later, she moved out of state and changed her phone number. Vernon's people got to her first."
Dalvin's expression flickered. Uncertainty cutting through the rage.
"I'm not making excuses," I continued. "I should have tried harder.
Should have found another way. But I want you to understand that I didn't just forget about you.
I didn't move on and build a happy life while you suffered.
Every year that passed without finding you was a failure.
Every rumor I couldn't confirm, every lead that went nowhere, every door that closed in my face. I carried all of it."
"And yet." Dalvin spread his arms wide, a gesture that encompassed his torn clothes, his bleeding feet, his shattered composure. "Here I am. Twelve years later. Running for my life while you watched from a distance."
"I didn't know how to reach you. Vernon's security was—"
"Excuses." The word cut through my explanation like a blade.
"You had resources. You had connections.
You had all those years to figure it out, and instead you just..
. watched. Like I was a painting in a gallery.
Like my suffering was interesting but not interesting enough to actually do anything about. "
The accusation hung between us, heavy and poisonous. I wanted to defend myself. Wanted to explain all the ways I'd tried, all the doors that had closed in my face, all the legal barriers that had stopped me from charging into Vernon's life and taking Dalvin back by force.
But none of that mattered. Not to him. Not now.
From somewhere in the forest, maybe a quarter mile away, a sound drifted through the trees. An omega's voice, high and startled, followed by a deeper alpha rumble. Then laughter. Genuine, surprised, delighted laughter.
Theo. I recognized the brightness of the sound from the ceremony, from the omega who had stood beside Dalvin with his easy smile and his infectious optimism.
He'd been caught. And from the sound of it, he was happy about it.
Dalvin heard it too. His head turned toward the sound, and I watched his expression shift. Jealousy tightened his jaw. Grief softened his eyes. The simple joy he couldn't let himself feel, happening to someone else.
"At least someone's getting their fairy tale," he said quietly.
"You could have one too."
"No." He turned back to face me, and the fire had burned out of his eyes, leaving only ash.
"I can't. Not with you. The scandal would destroy any custody case I might build.
Vernon's lawyers would use our history to paint me as unstable, deviant.
They'd take Eli, and everything I've sacrificed would mean nothing. "
Eli. The name landed in my chest and stayed there, pulsing with questions I didn't have the right to ask.
"Your son," I said.
Dalvin's face went blank. Closed. A door slamming shut behind his eyes. "You know about him."
"I know he exists. I know you've hidden him somewhere safe. I didn't try to find out where, because if I could find him, so could Vernon."
For a long moment, Dalvin just stared at me. The silence stretched taut between us, filled with all the words we couldn't say, all the years we'd lost, all the damage that couldn't be undone.
"You didn't look for him," Dalvin said finally.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because protecting him mattered more than satisfying my curiosity. Because I knew that if I started pulling that thread, I might lead Vernon's people straight to him." I held his gaze, letting him see the truth of it. "Because keeping Eli safe was more important than knowing where he was."
Dalvin's composure cracked. Just for an instant, just a flicker of something raw and vulnerable beneath the anger and the fear. Then he pulled himself back together, rebuilt the walls, locked the door.
"I can't trust you," he said. "I can't trust anyone. Not anymore."
"I know."
"Then why won't you leave?"
"Because leaving you alone in this forest with Mercer hunting you isn't an option I can live with." I took a breath, steadied myself. "You don't have to trust me. You don't have to want me. But I'm not going to walk away and let Vernon's proxy drag you back to a man who hurt you for eight years."
Dalvin was silent. His jaw worked, muscles twitching beneath the skin, fighting some internal battle I couldn't see.
Finally, he stepped back toward the rocks.
"Don't follow me," he said. "Don't approach. Just... stay close enough to intercept Mercer if he comes back."
"I can do that."
"This isn't forgiveness. This isn't trust. This is just survival."
"I understand."
He held my gaze for one more moment, searching for something in my face. I didn't know if he found it. Didn't know if there was anything left to find after so many years of distance and failure.
Then he turned and disappeared back into the crevice between the boulders.
I found a new position, closer this time, with sightlines to both his hiding spot and the most likely approach vectors from the northwest. Settled my back against a tree and prepared to wait.
The argument had changed nothing and everything. Dalvin still didn't trust me. Still didn't want me. Still saw me as just another alpha trying to claim him.
But he hadn't run.
And for now, that would have to be enough.
***