Chapter 26
ASHTON
I ended up having dinner with my lawyer, Liam Cameron, who is also a close friend from college.
What should have been a simple meal turned into an emotional reckoning.
Bailey’s outburst earlier that afternoon still echoed in my head, her voice sharp with hurt before she stormed out of my building.
The frustration had settled deep in my chest, heavy and suffocating.
I never planned to suggest marriage. The words had slipped out of me without warning, born from panic rather than logic.
Panic at the thought of losing my son. Panic at the even worse possibility of losing Bailey for the second time.
I wanted them both in my life, desperately.
I just did not know how to hold on to them without breaking everything further.
“That’s not how you’re supposed to handle this, Ashton,” Liam said evenly. “Suggesting marriage out of the blue? You took the choice away from her.”
“She’s being unreasonable,” I snapped back. “She hid my son from me for eight years and now she has the nerve to make me feel like a visitor in his life.”
Liam leaned back in his chair, studying me the way he always did when he was about to say something I would not like. “You are both stubborn. You are both trapped in your emotions and your history. Right now, you see each other as enemies, not as partners.”
Then he asked the question that stopped me cold.
“Let me ask you this. After everything that happened, past or present, have you actually told her how sorry you are?”
The words hit harder than I expected.
I went still, my mind racing backward. I could not remember saying it.
Not truly. Not sincerely. I had planned to bring her back into my life, to expose the lies that had surrounded her, and yes, I had planned some grand gesture to beg for her forgiveness.
I even bought her childhood home so she would always have a place that felt safe, a place that was hers.
I had planned more. So much more.
But everything unraveled the moment I found out she had been hiding my son.
My anger swallowed everything else. All I could think about was how wronged I was, how she could do this to me.
I drowned in my frustration and stopped seeing my own mistakes.
It only got worse when I drafted a custody agreement without even talking to her first.
No wonder she exploded. No wonder she went on the defensive.
“You need to step back and give her space to breathe,” Liam continued. “You pushed her into a corner. She did exactly what anyone would do. She pushed back. You are not going to win her this way.”
I took a deep breath, the truth settling painfully into place. Liam was right. I had been so consumed by my anger that I lost sight of what truly mattered. That did not make what she did right, but it did not make my actions right either.
I wanted to tell her that I still loved her. That even back then, when I believed she betrayed me, she was the reason I could never fully commit to anyone else. Women had thrown themselves at me for years, drawn by my name, my money, my power. None of it mattered. None of them mattered.
The only person who ever came close was Lynda, five years ago.
Maybe it was because she was familiar. Maybe because she reminded me of Bailey.
We were both lonely, both carrying the same unresolved hurt.
It connected us in ways I should have never allowed.
One night, I let myself fall into it, and the regret was immediate.
It felt like cheating, even though Bailey and I were already part of the past.
“You’re right,” I finally admitted, my voice quiet. “I don’t know what happened to me, or how to fix this.”
Liam nodded. “Start by talking to her. Let go of your ego. And get to know your son. That is the most important thing right now.”
And for the first time that night, I understood just how much I stood to lose if I kept fighting the wrong battle.