Chapter 10
LACHLAN
I'm lying to Tessa.
The realization sits heavy in my gut as I pull up outside Derek's apartment complex.
She thinks I'm meeting with a colleague.
She kissed me goodbye this morning, told me she loved me, and I smiled and said it back without mentioning that I'm actually about to do the one thing she explicitly asked me not to do.
But I can't let this hang over us anymore. The threat, the fear, the constant waiting for Derek to detonate the bomb he's holding. We have the proof that Vanessa gave him the footage. But that doesn't erase the video from Derek's phone. It doesn't stop him from still having that power over us.
So I'm here, standing outside his door, about to have a conversation that could either end this or make everything infinitely worse.
I knock.
There's movement inside, then the door swings open and Derek stands there in sweatpants and a t-shirt, his hair disheveled like he just woke up. When he sees me, his expression shifts from confusion to recognition to anger in the space of a heartbeat.
"What the hell do you want?" he demands.
"We need to talk."
"I have nothing to say to you." He starts to close the door, but I put my hand against it, holding it open.
"That video," I say. "I want it. All copies. Gone."
He laughs. "Yeah, I bet you do. But why the hell would I give it to you?"
"Because I'm asking nicely. And because you need to understand what you're really doing here. You ended things with Tessa. You moved on in a matter of days with her friend."
"You don't know anything about me and Tessa."
"I know enough. I know you hurt her. I know she spent weeks crying over you, questioning what she did wrong, wondering why she wasn't enough. And I know that now, when she's finally healing, finally finding happiness again, you're holding on to something that can destroy that. Why?"
Derek stares at me, and I can see him struggling for an answer.
"Can I come in?" I ask. "Five minutes. That's all I need."
He hesitates, then steps back, allowing me inside. The apartment is exactly what I expected. Generic furniture, dishes in the sink, the smell of stale beer.
"Say what you came to say," he mutters, crossing his arms.
I take a breath, knowing that what I'm about to share is something I rarely talk about. Something that still sits like broken glass in my chest. But if it gets through to him, if it makes him understand, then it's worth it.
"I used to be a sheriff. I spent years in law enforcement, investigating human trafficking operations in rural Nevada."
His expression shifts, interest replacing some of the hostility.
"It was a long investigation. Complex network of traffickers moving victims through the desert. Women, mostly. Some of them barely more than girls. They were being sold. Bought and used and discarded like they were nothing."
"Jesus," he says.
"We arrested sixteen people. Rescued twenty-three victims. I can still see their faces sometimes, the hollow look in their eyes, the way they flinched when we tried to help them.
But here's the thing that destroyed me. Some of those sixteen we arrested?
They were my colleagues. People I worked with, trusted.
Men who wore the same badge I did and used it to protect monsters. "
Derek is quiet now, really listening.
"I blew the whistle. Testified against them.
Watched them go to prison for what they did.
And you know what happened to me? I became a pariah.
Other law enforcement didn't trust me anymore because I'd turned on my own.
The department forced me out. I got death threats. Had to move, start over completely."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I learned something from that experience," I say, meeting his eyes.
"I learned what real evil looks like. I've seen the worst that men are capable of.
The cruelty, the violence, the complete disregard for human suffering.
I've looked into the eyes of predators who saw other people as objects to be used and thrown away. "
I take a step closer, and Derek doesn't move, transfixed by what I'm saying.
"And here's what I need you to understand, Derek. You don't want to be that guy. You don't want to be the man who uses power to hurt someone, who holds something over another person's head to control them. That's what predators do."
"I'm not… I'm not like that," he says.
"You have footage of Tessa in a private moment. Footage that you could hurt someone with. And why? Because you left her and she moved on? Because she found happiness with someone else? That's not protection. That's revenge. That's cruelty. And you're better than that."
He looks away, and I can see the conflict playing out on his face.
"You made a choice, and you hurt her. And yeah, maybe you regret it. Maybe Vanessa wasn't what you thought she'd be, and maybe you realized too late what you had with Tessa. But that doesn't give you the right to keep hurting her."
"I just… I didn't think she'd move on so fast. I thought…"
"You thought she'd wait for you?" I ask. "Why would she do that? You chose someone else. So she picked herself up and she moved forward. That's what strong people do. They survive."
Derek sinks down onto his couch, his head in his hands. "I fucked up."
"Yeah. You did. But here's the thing about fucking up, it happens. We're all human. We make mistakes, hurt people we care about, choose wrong. But what defines us isn't the mistake. It's what we do after."
He looks up at me.
"You can hold onto the video," I say. "Or you can let it go. Delete it. Move on with your life and let her move on with hers. You can be the guy who made a mistake but didn't become a monster because of it."
There's a long silence. I can hear traffic outside, someone's TV through the wall, the hum of his refrigerator. And then Derek pulls out his phone.
"The video Vanessa gave me," he says slowly. "She told me someone sent it to her. But that was probably bullshit."
"She pulled the security footage herself and gave it to you to try and sabotage any chance of you getting back together with Tessa."
"Christ." He scrolls through his phone, and I see him pull up the video.
He looks at me. "You love her."
It's not a question, but I answer anyway. "More than I thought I could love anyone."
He nods slowly, then presses delete. The video disappears from his screen.
"There," he says. "It's gone."
"And no other copies? Not on the cloud, not on a computer, nowhere?"
"No other copies. I'm not that guy. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I'm not."
“Thank you,” I say.
I leave his apartment and walk back to my truck. The threat is gone. The video is deleted. We're free.
Now I just have to tell Tessa what I've done.
And then tell her something even more important.
She's at my place when I get back, curled up on the couch with a textbook and a mug of tea. She looks up when I walk in, and her smile is so genuine, so full of love, that I almost can't stand it.
"Hey," she says. "How'd the meeting go?"
I close the door and lean against it, and something in my expression must give me away because her smile falters.
"What's wrong?" she asks, setting down her textbook.
"I need to tell you something," I say. "And you're probably going to be angry with me."
She stands up, and I can see worry creeping into her eyes. "Lachlan, what did you do?"
"I went to see Derek."
"You what? Are you serious? I told you not to. Why would you do that?"
"Tessa," I interrupt gently. "The video's gone. He deleted it. Right in front of me. No copies, no backups, nothing. It's over."
She stops mid-sentence. "Are you serious?"
"I talked to him. And I got through to him. He's not going to use it. He's not going to hurt you. It's done."
"How do you know he's not lying? How do you know he won't…"
"Because I know," I say firmly. "I know people, Tessa. I spent years learning to read them and understand what motivates them. And Derek is an immature guy who made bad choices. But he understands now."
She's quiet for a long moment, processing this. "What did you say to him?"
"I told him about my past. About the trafficking case." I take a breath. "I told him I know what real evil looks like, and he's not it. I told him he had a choice, to be the guy who keeps hurting you, or be the guy who makes a different choice."
She moves toward me then, and I open my arms as she crashes into me, her face pressed against my chest.
"I'm still mad at you," she mumbles into my shirt.
"I know."
"You lied to me."
"I know."
"Don't do it again."
"I won't." I kiss the top of her head. "I promise."
She pulls back to look at me. "I can't believe you did that. For me. For us."
"I'd do anything for you, Tessa. Anything. But there's something else. Something more important."
She frowns. "What is it?"
"Can you—can you sit down for a second?"
"Lachlan, you're freaking me out."
"Just sit. Please."
She sits on the couch, and I kneel down on one knee in front of her. I reach into my pocket and pull out the small velvet box. Her eyes widen as she realizes what's happening.
"Oh my God," she whispers.
"I know this is crazy. I know it's insane and irrational and probably way too fast. But I don't care."
I take her hands in mine, and they're trembling.
"I don't care about any of it because I love you.
I love you in a way I didn't think I was capable of.
You came into my life when I was convinced I'd never feel anything real again, and you made me want to be better, to do better, to actually live instead of just existing.
You saved me, Tessa. You brought me back to life.
And I can't imagine spending a single day without you. "
I open the box, revealing the ring.
"Marry me. Build this life with me. Let me spend every day proving that you made the right choice."
She's full-on crying now, her hands shaking in mine. For a terrifying second, I think she's going to say no, that I've pushed too hard, moved too fast, and scared her away.
But then she's nodding, tears and laughter mixing together. "Yes. God, yes, of course yes."
I slide the ring onto her finger, and it fits perfectly. Then I'm standing, pulling her up with me, kissing her.
"I love you," she gasps against my mouth. "I love you so much."
"Say it again," I demand, because I'll never get tired of hearing those words.
"I love you, Lachlan Cain. I love you and I want to marry you and build a life with you and…"
I kiss her again, deeper this time, pouring everything I feel into it.
When we finally break apart, she's staring at her hand, at the ring catching the afternoon light.
"We're engaged," she says, like she can't quite believe it.
"We're engaged," I confirm.
"This is insane."
"Completely insane."
"Everyone’s going to think we've lost our minds."
"Probably." I pull her back against me. "But I don't care what anyone thinks. In a little over a month, the semester will be over. I won’t be your professor anymore, and we won’t have to hide.
I care about you. About us. About building something real that isn't based on hiding or fear or anyone else's opinion. "
She looks up at me, and her eyes are shining. "When I walked into that club on Halloween, I was trying to forget my pain. I never imagined I'd find you."
"I was dead inside," I tell her honestly. "And then you were there, and everything changed."
"No masks anymore," she says softly.
"No masks," I agree.
I pull her down onto the couch, and she curls into me, her hand with the ring resting on my chest. We stay like that for hours, wrapped up in each other, planning a future that seemed impossible not long ago.
I watch the light fade outside the window, thinking about how darkness used to be all I knew.
How I used to hide in it, use it, let it consume me.
But not anymore.
Now I have light.
Now I have her.
THE END.