Chapter 13
Tessa
The knock came just before sunrise.
Soft.
Careful.
Like whoever stood outside already knew I might not answer.
I sat on the floor behind the counter with my knees pulled against my chest, staring blankly at the wall across from me.
The shop still smelled like roses and eucalyptus.
Usually comforting.
Today it just made everything feel too quiet.
The knock came again.
“Tessa.”
My eyes closed immediately.
Ace.
Of course.
“Go away,” I whispered.
Silence answered me for a second.
Then—
“No.”
A shaky breath slipped out of me.
Even exhausted, part of me almost smiled.
Stubborn man.
“I mean it,” I called weakly.
“I know.”
“Then leave.”
“I can’t.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
A long pause stretched between us.
Then his voice came quieter this time.
“Because I found something.”
Fear hit instantly.
Sharp.
Immediate.
No.
Not hope.
Anything but that.
“I don’t want to hear it,” I said quickly.
“You do.”
“I don’t.”
Another silence.
Then—
“It’s not too late, Tessa.”
My throat tightened painfully.
Because he sounded so certain.
Slowly, I pushed myself to my feet.
My legs felt weak from sitting there half the night.
Every step toward the door felt heavier than the last.
My hand hovered over the lock.
“Tessa,” Ace said softly through the wood. “Trust me.”
A broken laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
“That’s the problem.”
Still—
I opened the door.
Ace stood there looking exhausted, jaw shadowed with stubble, eyes locked hard on mine.
And in his hand—
his phone.
I backed up immediately.
“No.”
“You haven’t even seen it yet.”
“I can’t do this again.” My voice cracked. “I can’t believe something just to have it ripped away afterward.”
His expression softened slightly.
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
God.
The certainty in his voice terrified me.
“Please,” I whispered. “Don’t.”
“I’m not asking you to believe me.” He held the phone out slightly. “Just look.”
My gaze dropped to it.
Then away again.
“No.”
“It’s traffic footage from the crash.”
The air left my lungs.
“That footage doesn’t exist.”
“It does.”
“They would’ve used it.”
His jaw tightened.
“They didn’t.”
The room tilted slightly beneath me.
“Why are you doing this?” I whispered.
“Because somebody should’ve done it six years ago.”
That hit hard enough to hurt.
Ace stepped inside slowly, giving me room to move away if I needed it.
“It shows what happened.”
My chest started heaving.
“No…”
“It shows you in the passenger seat.”
Everything inside me stopped.
Passenger seat.
I stared at him.
Couldn’t breathe.
“That’s not possible.”
His voice lowered carefully. “Tessa…”
“No.”
He held the phone out farther this time.
“It’s right here.”
My fingers shook violently as I reached for it.
The screen glowed softly between us.
“Press play,” he said gently.
I hesitated.
Then tapped the screen.
The video flickered to life.
Dark road.
Rain.
Headlights.
Our car rolled into the intersection.
“That’s us…”
Then another car appeared.
Too fast.
Way too fast.
My stomach dropped.
“What is that doing—”
Impact.
Metal twisted violently across the screen.
The car spun.
Slid sideways—
straight into the tree.
Driver side first.
A sound tore out of me.
I rewound the footage with shaking fingers.
Watched again.
And this time—
I saw it.
Red hair visible through the passenger window.
Me.
Passenger side.
Not driving.
My knees weakened instantly.
“This proves…” My voice broke completely. “I wasn’t driving.”
The phone slipped in my hand.
“I knew I wasn’t…”
Six years of pain because no one would listen to me, cracked wide open inside my chest all at once.
“I told them, I didn’t do it.”
The whisper barely made it out.
Then louder—
“I told them, I didn’t do it!”
My legs gave out beneath me.
The floor rushed upward—
but Ace dropped in front of me before I hit it.
“No,” he said firmly, catching me against him. “They didn’t listen.”
A sob ripped free from somewhere deep inside me.
“They lied,” I whispered against his chest. “They let me take it…”
Ace’s arms tightened around me.
“Yeah,” he said quietly.
I grabbed fistfuls of his shirt, shaking so hard I couldn’t stop.
Six years.
Six years believing they thought I did it. Somebody knows the truth.
Believing maybe everyone else saw something terrible in me that I couldn’t.
And now the truth sat glowing on a phone screen between us.
Real.
Undeniable.
Mine.
“I didn’t do it,” I whispered again, crying harder now.
Ace pressed his cheek lightly against my hair.
“No, sweetheart,” he murmured. “You didn’t.”
And this time—
somebody finally believed me.