Chapter 20 Noah
NOAH
She stepped away from the door and into the room, brushing the edge of the bed as she moved. Her hand gripped the strap of her bag.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I had to get it back.” She unzipped the duffel and pulled something out. Something shiny, old, and incomplete, but still stunning. “I’d stashed it at The Lazy Moose.”
“Wait…is that the necklace you stole?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I buried it under the oak tree by the barn. The night of the dance rehearsal.”
I groaned. I thought she’d said honesty mattered. She was so different from anyone I’d known that diving into the deep end had felt right. I’d told myself the fine print didn’t matter, that it’d sort itself out because that’s what it usually did. But was I really that na?ve?
“You said you went to prison because you tried to reclaim it. That it belonged to your mother.”
“Yeah.”
“If it were yours, why hide it?” I probed.
“Because I stole it again.”
“Maya? You stole from your own mother?”
“No! When I was convicted, the necklace went back to my uncle’s family. But I stole it again. From them.”
The weight of her confession crashed over me. “Shit. When?”
“Stop asking, Noah.” She turned, shoving the necklace back into her bag.
“Has this got to do with that man Napoleon?” I asked.
She ignored me, clearly plotting her way out of this.
I stepped in her way as she rose.
“You hid that thing on my farm,” I said sharply. No one—no one—played me like this. “So don’t you dare tell me not to ask questions.”
“It’s for your own good!” She tried to sidestep me, her fists clenched. “Forget what you saw. Forget about me.”
“No,” I said, my stance firm. “I can’t. I won’t!”
“You can, and you will. I’m sorry, Noah. I need to be the one who says goodbye first, before you ever get the chance.”
“Why’d you have to say that?” I shook my head, a bitter weight pressing behind my ribs. That stung. That really stung.
Once again, she tried to slip past me toward the door, but I didn’t let her.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call the sheriff right now!”
“I don’t have one,” she said.
My chest rose and fell, my breath tangled in fury. I was at a loss whether to end her, end me, or end both of us.
End her? I’d pick up the phone and turn her in.
End me? I’d let her walk out that door.
End us?
And somehow, that last one felt worse than all the rest.
“Dammit, Maya! Why? Why!” Desperation engulfed me, and I couldn’t breathe through the ache in my chest. She’d hijacked every sense of logic I had, and still, still, I couldn’t let her go. “We had something good. Don’t stand there and tell me we didn’t.”
Her lips parted, but no sound came. Just a tremble that said more than any denial.
I pressed again. “Why did you steal it back? Was it revenge?”
Her head shook once. “Noah, I didn’t do it for me. Not for my mother. And sure as hell not for revenge.” Her voice barely rose above a whisper, but it sliced right through me. “Revenge feels good until it doesn’t. It fixes nothing, costs too much, and never delivers the peace it promises.”
That sent a spear through my gut. But it was how she said them that unsteadied me. It was not defensive. Not rehearsed. Just…resigned.
“I know you won’t believe me,” she said. “But I swear, I did it for something good.”
My heart should’ve rejected that. Should’ve gone cold. But something cracked. A hairline fracture in all that fury. Who steals for good? A fantasy? A storybook?
Or maybe a woman like her—haunted, brave, and too damn stubborn to beg.
“Then tell me!” I roared, part demand, part prayer. “Give me one reason that makes sense. One reason, so I can stop feeling like the dumbass who trusted a con.”
She flinched but didn’t crumble. “Just let me go. Forget about me.”
But that face—
God. That wasn’t a liar’s face.
And even if it had been, I’d still want her. I’d still want to tear through every guarded part of her until I found the truth buried beneath the damage.
Because losing her scared me more than loving a thief ever could.
“I meant what I said,” I told her. “You’re different. And I’m not leaving until I know why.”
She looked at me as if she already knew she wouldn’t win. “This necklace is cursed. I’m cursed.” Her voice cracked. “You shouldn’t even be near me.”
I should’ve thrown it back and turned it into a weapon. But I didn’t.
“Maya,” I said her name like it was already mine. “A necklace, cursed or not, doesn’t scare me. You were in my arms, and that wasn’t a mistake. Whatever this is, it’s real. Just tell me. What good did you do?”
She slung the bag over her shoulder and stormed toward the door. “Get out of my way.”
I didn’t move. “Not a chance.”
She shoved me hard. But even as she pushed, she didn’t look away.
“If you think taking me in wasn’t a mistake,” she said, her voice shaking, “then you better believe that keeping me will be.”
And yet, I stayed right there. Because somewhere deep in the wreckage, I already knew. She was the truth I wanted, even if it came wrapped in lies.