Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
ELENA
“You okay?” Rhett asked, glancing behind him as Chase’s taillights disappeared around the corner.
“I’m fine,” I said, the lie landing like lead. “Come on in.”
He stepped inside slowly, eyes scanning the room like he wasn’t sure he was allowed to settle into it. I shut the door behind us and moved past him into the living room, trying not to fidget. My pulse hadn’t caught up to the rest of me yet.
“Thanks for coming,” I said, because it felt like something I was supposed to say.
“Thanks for letting me,” he replied, voice low, cautious. “I know this is…a lot.”
We both stood there for a second like we were on opposite sides of a river neither of us had any idea how to cross.
I nodded toward the couch. “Sit?”
“Yeah. Yeah, sure.”
We sat. Not too close. Not too far apart. Just enough distance to feel the space that had existed between us our entire lives.
“So,” I said, fingers twisting in my lap. “You said in your message you found out about me a few months ago.”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “I did.” His eyes dropped to his hands.
“I caught my dad reading a file. Big one. Had your name all over it. At first, I thought maybe it was someone from work, but then I saw... the details. Stuff about the assault. The divorce. Medical notes. It was all in there, Elena. Like he’d been. .. tracking you.”
I stood, needing to move, grabbing two bottles of water from the fridge. Gave one to him just to keep my hands busy.
“I don’t even know his name. Just that he wasn’t around.”
Rhett let out a slow breath, sat back like the truth weighed more than he expected.
“He was around. For me. For my mom. But I didn’t know about you.
Not until I saw…” He winced. “Anyway. When I found out, I confronted him. Asked who you were. Asked why I was just now hearing I had a sister.” Rhett went on, voice tight. “That’s when he told me.”
I braced myself.
“He said he had an affair. One-night stand in Vegas. Said some woman showed up months later, saying she was pregnant. Your mom. He asked her to get an abortion. She said no.” He looked up at me, something pained and hesitant in his expression.
“He told me she cut off contact after that. Never asked for money. Never came back. But he kept tabs. Quietly. From a distance.”
I couldn’t speak. Could barely breathe. It was a confirmation I didn’t know I needed. And somehow still a fresh wound.
God, I wished Mom were here. Just for one second. To see this.
“So he knew,” I said. “He always knew.”
“Yeah.” Rhett’s voice was a whisper now. “He knew.”
I swallowed hard. “And you tracked me down.”
“I had to. You were out here living a life, and I’d been walking around like you didn’t exist. I couldn’t let that sit.
” Rhett leaned forward, elbows on knees.
“I don’t want anything from you. I’m not here with some big motive or expectation.
I just…” His voice cracked, and he took a second to recover.
“I just thought you deserved to know you weren’t alone. ”
I blinked back the burn in my eyes.
For a long moment, all I could do was nod. And then I whispered, “Thank you.”
We sat there in silence. Not comfortable, not yet. But something softer than before.
Not quite family.
But maybe something close.
Maybe something new.