Chapter 11
Tessa
The bell above the shop door chimed softly.
I kept trimming stems.
Didn’t look up.
Didn’t breathe too deeply either, because my chest still felt bruised from the tavern.
“Shop’s closed,” I said automatically.
My voice sounded steady enough.
Good.
Control mattered.
Especially now.
“Tessa.”
The clippers froze in my hand.
Every muscle in my body tightened instantly.
No.
Not yet.
I closed my eyes briefly before finally looking up.
Ace stood just inside the doorway, broad shoulders tense beneath his jacket, eyes locked completely on me.
He looked different.
Not angry.
Certain.
And somehow that scared me more.
“I said I’m closed.”
“I know.”
“Then leave.”
“No.”
My grip tightened around the clippers. “Ace—”
“I found something.”
The words hit like ice water.
I went completely still.
“No,” I said immediately, turning back toward the flowers too quickly. “I don’t want to hear it.”
Because something in his voice told me exactly what this was.
Hope.
And hope was dangerous.
“You’re going to hear it.”
“I said no.”
“Tessa.”
“Stop.” I spun toward him sharply. “Whatever you think you found, whatever you think you know—just stop.”
“It matters.”
“It doesn’t.”
The words cracked harder than I intended.
Ace stepped closer slowly.
Carefully.
Like approaching something wounded.
“It changes everything.”
My stomach twisted violently.
“No,” I whispered. “No, it doesn’t.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“I already confessed!” My voice rose suddenly. “I served the time. That’s it. That’s the story.”
“It’s the wrong story.”
The room went silent.
The cooler hummed softly behind me.
My heart slammed so hard against my ribs it hurt.
“Please,” I whispered. “Don’t do this.”
Ace held my gaze steadily.
“I read the report.”
Cold spread through me instantly.
“The impact was on the driver side.”
I stopped breathing.
No.
No no no.
“You hear me?” he pressed gently. “Driver side.”
I shook my head hard enough to make my curls whip across my face. “Stop it.”
“Tessa—”
“STOP.”
The word ripped out of me sharp and panicked.
Because I couldn’t let myself touch this.
Couldn’t survive believing it if it fell apart afterward.
“You don’t know what happened,” I whispered.
“Then tell me.”
My chest tightened painfully.
“She asked me to.”
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Ace went still.
Tears burned instantly behind my eyes.
“She was bleeding,” I whispered shakily. “She knew she was dying and she grabbed my hand and begged me not to tell them she’d been drinking.”
The flower shop blurred around me.
“She kept crying,” I choked out. “She said her parents would hate her. She was scared and I just…”
My voice broke completely.
“I promised her.”
Silence filled the room.
Heavy.
Raw.
“I tried to tell my mom later,” I whispered. “I thought if anybody believed me, it would be her.”
The ache in my chest split wider.
“But she looked at me like…” My throat tightened painfully. “Like I disgusted her.”
Ace’s jaw flexed hard.
“They all thought I was lying to save myself.”
My fingers curled into fists at my sides.
“So I stopped talking.”
The confession scraped out of me quietly now.
“I already ruined everything anyway.”
Tears slid down my cheeks unchecked.
“She was dead,” I whispered. “And I was still here.”
Ace took another slow step closer.
“You protected her.”
My head snapped up immediately.
“No.”
“You did.”
“That’s not protection!” My voice cracked. “I let everyone think I killed her!”
“You kept a promise to someone who was dying.”
The words hit me so hard I physically staggered backward.
“No,” I whispered again. “Don’t say things like that.”
“Why?”
“Because if you make this sound noble, then what was the point of everything I lost?”
The silence afterward hurt.
Ace’s voice lowered when he spoke again.
“Tessa… you didn’t kill anyone.”
A sob tore loose from my chest before I could stop it.
“No.”
“You didn’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“How?” I demanded desperately. “How can you possibly know that?”
“Because the evidence says you weren’t driving.” He stepped closer again carefully. “Because Cathy’s blood alcohol level was higher. Because the crash photos line up.”
My head shook harder with every word.
Because if he was right—
then everything changed.
Everything.
“I can’t,” I whispered.
My knees buckled suddenly beneath me.
The floor rushed upward—
but strong arms caught me before I hit it.
I stiffened instantly, trying to pull away on instinct alone.
Ace only tightened his hold enough to steady me.
“I’ve got you.”
The words broke something open inside me.
“No,” I whispered against his chest. “You don’t…”
His hand slid carefully against my back.
“Yeah,” he said softly. “I do.”
And just like that—
the walls finally shattered.
I cried against him so hard it hurt.
Years of grief.
Guilt.
Loneliness.
All of it pouring out at once while he held me steady in the middle of the wreckage.
And for the first time in six years—
someone stayed.