Chapter 20 #2
"Wait, I don't understand." Her eyes drop to my jacket as she collects her thoughts. "If he wants to marry her, why wouldn't he? He said the loophole was marriage. You both have Hale blood, so why does it have to be you?"
"Remember how I told you he was a secret, and my mother put him up for adoption?"
"Yes." She nods slowly, trying to keep up.
"Well, it wasn't until he got sick and needed a kidney transplant that Baylor found out he existed.
His adoptive parents knocked on his door in a last-ditch effort to find a match and save his life.
Of course, Baylor stepped up, but not without his own stipulations.
He wanted his son back. They agreed, but Trigg was already five years old by that time, and my grandfather had died.
Since my grandfather had passed before he knew about Trigg, he wasn't recognized in the will. "
"I don't understand. Why can't an addendum be made? How else do heirs get put on the deeds?"
Shit. I grind my teeth, hating how a primal part of my brain takes over when I hear her speak about heirs. "There can be…" I take a deep breath and push out the memory of the one and only time I had her in a position to make heirs .
"Okay, you're going to have to give me more, because I don't understand if there's?—"
"I need to know something," I cut her off as another thought floats to the forefront. "Why is Trigg telling you all of this? This feud has nothing to do with you. You're not a Hale or a Fairfield."
Her eyebrows rise, and I can tell she didn't like my words. "I think I'll keep that to myself for now…unless you want to trade."
"Trade?" The word hangs between us. I stroke my beard slowly, buying time as my mind races through the implications.
"Yeah," she says, one eyebrow arching sharply.
"A secret for a secret." Tongue in cheek, I drop my gaze, a heaviness settling in my chest. I know precisely which secret she's fishing for—the one thing I've buried so deep that even I pretend it doesn't exist most days.
"Look, if you want to talk, you know where to find me, but if there's any moving forward with us, it won't be with secrets.
If you can't do that, then just let me be.
I'll stay out of your way, and you stay out of mine, but I need to get back to Fairfield. "
After a beat of silence, I risk meeting her gaze again. "Do you still need a ride?"
Those aren’t the words she wants, but I'm hoping she sees my offer for the temporary truce it is.
There's a conversation we need to have, words that could change everything between us, but it has to be the right moment.
Perfect timing for something this fragile and maybe even dangerous.
And right now, standing on a street corner with tension crackling between us like static electricity is not it.
"You don't have to," she sighs. "Noah is staying at the B it's not reality.
All I can do is lay my cards on the table and give him the choice I once denied her.
I don't want history to repeat itself. I'm tired of losing the things I care about.
"I'm not telling you this to bind you with a secret. I'm telling you so you can make your own choices. I can't change what is done, but I can try to be better."
She opens her mouth to respond, words forming on her lips, but I shake my head gently.
This silence between us isn't empty. It's filled with everything I couldn't give her before.
A choice and a truth. She deserves that much.
I start up my bike. Whatever comes next for us can't be built on manipulation.
"I'll see you around," I say before pulling off.
Maybe all this ends with a closed door, but I refuse to close it with regrets and what-ifs.
I've carried the weight of unspoken words and unpursued dreams long enough.
It's time to take bold steps, because the true tragedy isn't our ending.
Instead, it's in the possibilities I never allowed myself to explore.
A door may close, but at least I can say I lived fully on this side of it with intention and courage.