Chapter 24 #2
The conflict tears through me. My thoughts flip from understanding his devastation, gratitude for everything he’s done, and a fierce, primal need to protect what’s mine.
I kick off the wall. “I don’t know what she thought, Jaxon. But she was driving to you when the accident happened. That has to mean something.”
“It means I lost everything that mattered in one goddamn afternoon.” He points upstairs. “Our baby, her memories of us, and the future we were supposed to have. Gone!”
His mask is cracking. The controlled billionaire who commands boardrooms is splintering into a man who’s lost too much, too fast.
“Believe me, I get what you’re going through. I really do.” Pain radiates through my chest. “And I’m sorry for that. I really am.”
“But?” His eyes narrow.
“But she’s alive.” I place my hand on my heart. “She’s breathing. She’s coming home today. And yeah, she doesn’t remember you or what you had together. That’s brutal, and I get it. But she’s here, Jaxon. That’s more than some people get.”
The words taste like betrayal to my own grief. Because I’m not just talking about Livianna surviving. I’m talking about the baby we lost years ago that I’ve never gotten over.
Jaxon’s shoulders cave forward. “How am I supposed to just...watch her rebuild her life without me in it?”
“I don’t know.” I sigh with a heavy exhale. “How am I supposed to be there for her, knowing I’m lying about everything that matters?”
We stand in her living room, two men who love the same woman and are losing pieces of ourselves in the process.
“We can’t keep those tests here.” Jaxon gazes toward her bedroom. “If she finds them before she’s ready—”
“I’ll take care of it.” I march up the stairs before he can argue.
When I return with the trash, Jaxon’s staring out her back window at the ocean beyond. His reflection in the glass is haunted.
“So, how do we move forward from here?” His question is quiet, defeated.
I tie the trash bag closed, getting a glimpse of the pregnancy tests. The weight of them is like five years of her life I’m hiding from her.
“I don’t know, Jaxon.” The situation bears down on me and makes my chest hurt. “I honestly don’t fucking know.”
I guide Livianna through the front door, my hand hovering near her lower back without quite touching. She moves slowly and hesitantly, like she’s entering a stranger’s house instead of her own.
“Careful on the step.” I point to the slight rise between the outside and the entryway.
She nods, but doesn’t speak. Her gaze sweeps across the open floor plan toward the modern furniture, the abstract art on the walls, and the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking her backyard.
“You okay?” I set her bag near the stairs.
“Yeah.” The word comes out thin. “It’s just...different from what I expected.”
“How so?”
She wraps her arms around herself, suddenly small in the spacious room. “I don’t know. It’s beautiful, but it doesn’t feel like mine.”
My mouth goes dry. Because she’s right. This house belongs to twenty-three-year-old Livianna, who built a fashion empire and spent over two years with Jaxon Crowne. Not the eighteen-year-old girl standing in front of me who thinks we’re still together.
“Let me show you around.” I glance over my shoulder. “Your bedroom’s upstairs.”
“Can we just sit for a minute?” She sinks onto the couch before I can answer.
I drop beside her, leaving space between us. “What do you need, Lily?”
“To understand.” She stares at her hands. “Everyone keeps telling me I own a successful business and live in this incredible house. But when I look around, I don’t see me anywhere.”
“You will.” God, I hope that’s true. “Once you’ve been here a few days, it’ll start to feel more familiar.”
“Maybe.” She traces the pattern on a throw pillow as she gazes around. “Why don’t I have any pictures of us out?”
“We…” I scrape my teeth over my bottom lip. “We just recently reconnected. You decorated this place before that happened.”
She studies me. “Why did it take so long for us to get back together? It’s so confusing. I know I love you, so what happened?”
“Honestly, I fucked up and you moved to Paris.”
She rests her head on the back of the couch, staring at the ceiling. “Maybe I should forget about trying to force my memory to return.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Trying to bring it all back gives me terrible headaches. It’s obvious to me that something I don’t want to remember happened, so maybe I should just let it go.”
I sit with that for a few moments. On one hand, it’s all I want because we can build a new life together. On the other hand, I feel like I’m hoping for a future with her that’s built on a shaky foundation. If she gets her memory back, there’s a good chance I’ll lose her, and that stings.
She lifts her head and gazes over at me. “It’s weird, though. When I think about having my own place, I always pictured something different.”
“Different how?”
“Smaller, I guess. Something with character.” She glances toward the windows. “I don’t know. I guess I always thought I’d end up in Malibu.”
The words hit me like a fist to my jaw.
Malibu. Where Jaxon’s beach house sits. The one she was driving to when the accident happened.
“Malibu?” I force my tone to stay neutral. “Why there?”
She shrugs. “I used to dream about it. Remember? I’d talk about having a place right on the water where I could watch the sunset every night.”
I do remember. I was eighteen years old, lying on the bed in the guest suite in her parents’ basement. It was a few days after I gave her a promise ring. She talked about the future as if it were something we could control.
“Yeah. You mentioned it a few times.” I clear my throat. “But this house is nice. It’s secure, and your pops designed it exactly how you wanted it.”
“I’m sure he did.” She doesn’t sound convinced. “It just feels like I’m living someone else’s life. It’s like I walked into a movie where I’m playing a character I don’t know how to be.”
“Lily—”
“I’m not ungrateful.” She slides her palm into my hand. “I know I should be thankful I have all this—a business, this house, and my health. But Callum, what if I never remember? What if I’m stuck being this stranger?”
The vulnerability in her voice guts me. I thread our fingers together.
“Then we’ll figure it out together.” I squeeze. “One day at a time, okay?”
“Together.” She repeats the word like she’s testing its weight. “You’re really going to stick around through all this? I mean, are we together or not?”
“I’m not going anywhere.” The promise is an honest response. “I’ve got you, Lily. No matter what happens.”
She leans her head against my shoulder. I wrap my arm around her, holding her steady while my mind spins.
She thought she’d end up in Malibu. And somewhere in her broken memory, part of her still believes that’s where she belongs.
Even with that, I swear I’ll keep her safe. But there’s a sense crawling up my spine warning me that the real danger hasn’t arrived…and when it does, it won’t miss twice.