Chapter 29
Cadi stirred slowly, drifting into consciousness as the first traces of morning light filtered through the curtains.
A warmth pressed against her side, steady and unmoving. For a moment, she forgot—forgot the huge bomb that had exploded in their lives. Forgot the betrayal, forgot the storm of the past few weeks, forgot that nothing was the same anymore.
Then, fingers brushed through her hair.
The touch was feather-light, barely there, but it sent a strange ache through her chest.
She inhaled shakily, her eyes flickering open—only to meet Gray's.
The softest dove-grey and filled with something raw, something unguarded.
Cadi froze.
His fingertips stilled with the strands of autumn hair tangled between them.
"So beautiful," he whispered, voice low, reverent, as if he wasn't speaking to her—but to a memory, to something he had already lost.
Cadi's heart stumbled.
She caught his wrist gently, but her voice was firm. "No."
Gray sighed and let his hand slip away.
She turned over, glancing at her phone. 6:00 AM.
Too late for their usual routine—turning off the alarm at 6, convincing themselves they had more time, then inevitably scrambling out of bed at 7, cursing as they raced to start the day.
Except, everything was different now.
Cadi swung her legs off the bed, pressing her feet against the cold floor. She needed a moment to think.
She grabbed some clothes and stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her with more force than necessary.
She needed to breathe.
To process.
But mostly, she needed to figure out what the hell she was going to do next.
Because despite everything Gray had done—everything he had put them through—she still loved him.
It wasn't a tap she could turn off.
When she came out, Gray was gone.
She frowned.
Then she heard the faint sound of running water from the common bathroom.
A few minutes later, he emerged—freshly showered, his damp hair curling at the ends, his jaw dark with stubble.
He hesitated, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. "Can we talk?"
Her voice was cautious. "Before Tomos wakes up?"
Cadi exhaled. "Okay."
They moved to the kitchen. Gray sat at the oak dining table, fingers knitted together in front of him.
She leaned against the counter, putting distance between them.
"I need to tell ya my side of things," he started, voice low, thick with the weight of his emotions. "I need ya to know what it was like for me these past weeks."
Cadi crossed her arms, waiting.
"Regan came to me," he said, "and she told me somethin' I couldn't ignore. Somethin' I thought was the truth because—" he exhaled hard, shaking his head. "Because Regan loves ya, Cadi. She's always looked up to ya. I thought... how could she lie about somethin' like that?"
Cadi's nails bit into her arms.
"And yet, she got it wrong."
Gray winced, running his hands down his face. "I know that now. I know I was a feckin' eejit. I should have come to ya first. I should have asked."
His voice broke slightly, but he pushed on.
"But Cadi, I've always struggled with trust. I didn't even trust my own ma."
Cadi's brow furrowed, but she stayed silent.
Gray laughed bitterly. "I never realized how much I was waitin' for the other shoe to drop. I had this—this fear, deep in my gut, that it was only a matter of time before everythin' I had came crashin' down. Everybody leaves."
He swallowed hard, looking down at his hands.
"I thought it had happened. That I was right all along, that ya had been keepin' this massive secret from me."
Cadi's hands tightened into fists, but then she sighed, loosening them. "Gray, I made mistakes too. I should have told you sooner. I should have pushed harder. But I did try."
He frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"
She exhaled. "I tried talking to you about Callum before, more than once. Do you remember last year when I mentioned meeting up with Callum and you suddenly remembered a last-minute meeting? Or when I brought him up again, and you got irritated, saying you didn't see what was so special about him?"
Gray opened his mouth, but no words came out.
A memory surfaced—Cadi sitting beside him on the sofa, her fingers tracing the edge of her tea mug, her hand on her pregnant belly as she carefully broached the subject of Callum's past. Gray, exhausted after a long shift, had cut her off, saying, "Not now, Cadi. I don't have time for whatever drama he's got going on."
Another time, in the car, when she had gently insisted that Callum had something important to say, he had gotten defensive. "What's so feckin' great about Callum, huh? Why d'ya always want to talk about him?" Then, without waiting for an answer, he had stormed off, leaving her sitting there.
Cadi saw the exact moment Gray remembered. Saw how his face shifted, his expression torn between guilt and realization.
"I felt uneasy about him, somehow. Even before Regan said anything, I felt you spent too much time together. And I—I shut ya down," he admitted, voice hoarse. "I didn't listen. And I got angry."
Cadi nodded. "You did. And I let it go because, at the time, your mother was so unwell, and you were barely holding on. I didn't want to burden you."
Gray exhaled sharply and shook his head. "No, Cadi. This is partly my fault too. You didn't tell me because I never told you about my past. A past I wanted to pretend didn't exist. If you had known... you would never have kept Callum's secret."
Cadi blinked, caught off guard. "Gray—"
"I love you so much, Cadi," he interrupted, his voice raw. "But I couldn't trust you with something that has shaped my entire life. I was so ashamed of where I came from. And that's on me."
Cadi looked down, her throat tight. "I should've found another way. I should have insisted. But I didn't want to push you further away."
Silence stretched between them, thick with realization.
Gray's voice was quieter now. "I ruined everythin'. I feckin' destroyed us."
Cadi took a breath, then finally turned back to face him.
Before she could reply, the doorbell rang.