Things Left Unresolved – Ryder
Things Left Unresolved
Ryder
That same night
M y private jet’s engines rumble low, preparing to carry Adeline to London, but the plane hasn’t moved.
I sit in the backseat of the SUV with the window cracked, hands folded tightly in my lap, watching the sky start to pink at the edges. The tarmac lights blink steady in the fading dusk, and beyond them—nothing but the horizon swallowing what’s left of the day.
Autumn left without looking back, without a single shred of acknowledgment that everything she has now—everything she’s survived—was because of me.
And she thinks she’ll find better…
Somebody who won’t just promise to protect her—but actually can ?
I clench my jaw at the thought.
There’s not a man alive who would take a bullet for her faster than I would. Who’d burn a city down before letting her die. And yet she walked away like I was the danger, like I hadn’t bent every rule in my world to make space for her in it.
Brushing away the thought, I notice the engines are still idling. No movement.
What the hell is the holdup?
I shove the door open and step into the wind, striding toward the stairs just as the pilot descends in a rush, his face pale.
“What’s the problem?” I ask.
“Miss Rochester is a lot worse than usual, sir,” he says, a bit breathless. “She won’t calm down, and she won’t buckle in. I thought it was just nerves, but... you should see her.”
I look past him, up the stairway and toward the cabin window.
Adeline’s face is flushed, red and streaked with tears, her palms pressed flat to the glass. She’s sobbing— heaving —her body curled toward the window like she’s trying to break through it.
Fuck.
Without another word, I take the stairs two at a time and move straight to her.
She throws herself into me before I can even kneel down.
“Please don’t make me go back,” she cries, voice shaking against my chest. “Please, Daddy. Please .”
I close my eyes as the guilt punches through me, hard and hot.
“Okay,” I say, rubbing her back. “You can stay here.”
“Forever?”
I look at her face, never wanting to see her this upset again.
“Yes.” I nod, knowing it’s reckless.
“We’ll figure something out,” I whisper, lifting her into my arms and carrying her down the steps and back home where she belongs.
Fire crackles in my main room’s hearth around midnight. The flames cast dancing shadows on the wood grains of the violin.
Adeline is softly snoring in the room right next door, but I can’t sleep.
I’m done even trying.
Pouring myself a second glass of whiskey, I contemplate running through the jobs that need to be done this weekend, but I know it’s pointless. I’ve run through them over fifty times already and there’s not a single flaw. Not a single second or gap for human error.
It’s all tracked, perfect, just like usual.
Knock. Knock.
I look up at the entry doors and see Chester.
“Mind if I come in?”
“Not at all,” I say. “Just shut the door to the ante-room if you plan on smoking.”
“You read my mind.” He walks over and glances at Adeline for a few seconds before slowly pulling the door shut.
Taking out one of his preferred Cubans, he lights it and puffs a large “O” toward the hearth’s mantle.
“I’ll save you the suspense,” he says, taking another drag. “Miss Jane is safe and sound.”
“Thank you.”
“No one followed her—except two of your guys, and the only people waiting for her at landing were her parents.”
I nod, wanting to press him on whether he made two of our guys remain there until we’re sure she’s in the clear, but I hold back.
“You don’t have to pretend to be completely done with her, for my sake.” He looks at me. “They’ll keep a safe distance and make sure she’s in the clear until you want them to pull back.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Always.”
The fire crackling and hissing serves as the only conversation between us for several moments until I can’t take it anymore.
“How long have we been friends, Chester?” I ask.
“Too long.”
“Long enough for me to be embarrassingly honest with you for a few seconds?”
“No.” He smiles. “Give it five more years, and then we’ll be there.”
I want to smile back, but I can’t.
“Let me tell you something embarrassingly honest first,” he says, puffing his cigar. “I hated your parents.”
“What?”
“Well, not them per se. I meant the way they acted long before they had you and your brothers, I mean,” he says. “Hot and cold, toxic and obsessed… a lot like you and Miss Jane.”
“They dated a lot longer than Miss Jane and I.”
“He proposed after only knowing her for a month.”
“Because he knew she was the one that soon?”
“He knew he didn’t want another man to ever touch her.” He rolls his eyes. “He told her that if she wanted to break up, she could file for divorce after the wedding.”
“I see.” I sip my whiskey. “I never knew that.”
“Similar to how you’ve behaved with Miss Jane, isn’t it?”
“I don’t recall buying a ring.”
“No, but you fast-tracked her divorce and pushed her husband out of the picture.”
“He did that to himself.”
“And the moment she was single, you made sure she never left your sight or your security’s sight,” he says. “If you weren’t currently on a revenge arc, I have no doubt you’d be telling me about a wedding.”
“She left me.”
“She needed to.” He looks at me. “I think you can get her back over time.”
“That’s the embarrassingly honest thing I wanted to discuss.” I down the rest of my glass. “You once said if she discovered how I really knew her, she wouldn’t want to be with me.”
“I remember,” he says. “But a lot has changed since then… Do you think she would?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “I never thought she’d leave me.”
“You don’t think she’ll come back?”
“Not before I personally bring her back…”
End of Episode 24