Chapter 138
“It’s my fault you got hurt. I own that. All of it. But I can’t keep being the reason we stay stuck in this cycle. I won’t keep bleeding for something we both know isn’t healing either of us.”
A beat.
“I’m sorry, Jess.”
She doesn’t say goodbye.
But she doesn’t need to.
I end the call, and the silence that follows isn’t peaceful – but it‘ s honest.
When I finally head over to Emilia and Oldie, they’re mid- conversation, and whatever they’re talking about has her grinning.
“Your lost love… looked just like Liam?” she teases.
Oldie glares at her, appalled. “Don’t you dare reduce my Tuli to that. She had class. She had soul. She did not have those
ridiculous eyes.”
Emilia’s lips twitch. “I think Liam’s eyes are pretty gorgeous.”
“They belong to the man who stole her from me,” he snaps, yanking his gaze away from her like she’s betrayed him on a spiritual level. “I thought you were different. But you’re just like the rest.”
0.00%
17:49
Chapter 138
1285 Nuuchers
“Well… Liam does have great hair.”
Oldie’s expression softens instantly, a smug little smile curling his lips. “You’re right. I always knew you had taste, Emilia.”
I slide in next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pressing my face into her neck, breathing her in. She giggles, tipping her head slightly, and I have to fight the urge to trace my mouth along her throat. But Oldie’s here. So. No.
“My mother’s never been interested, Oldie,” I say, smirking. “So if anything, you’re the one trying to steal my dad’s wife.”
Oldie recoils like I slapped him. “You dare mention that thief in my presence?”
I laugh. “My deepest apologies.”
He scowls. “Accepted. Barely.”
After some lingering conversation and too many smart–ass remarks, Emilia and I say our goodbyes. Oldie waves us off from the entrance of his arcade, muttering something about the unbearable nature of young love.
“If you don’t visit more often,” he calls, “I’ll call your mother.”
I lean in to fasten Emilia’s seatbelt, then glance over my shoulder with a smirk. “You just want an excuse to hear her voice.”
He grins, unbothered. “Damn right I do. Put in a good word for me next time you visit.”
Which I won’t. But still, I say, “Sure, old man.”
21.14 %/
17.49
Chapter 138
18 288 Vouchers
Emilia’s smiling now, soft and genuine. “Are you sure you don’t want a ride home? We’re not in a rush.”
Oldie waves a hand and starts back toward the building. “I might look like a skeleton in a tracksuit, but I’m sturdy. I’ll be just fine. You two take care of yourselves, alright? No breaking each other’s hearts. And no secrets.”
I catch the way his gaze lingers on me with that last line, and it lands.
“Alright, alright,” I call. “I’ll come by soon. Don’t work yourself into an early grave.”
“Not before I marry your mother,” he shouts back without missing a beat.
I start the car. Oldie waves until we turn the corner.
Emilia’s already fiddling with the radio, skipping every halfway decent song until she lands on some off–brand emo rap.
“Christ.”
“You could try judging me just a little less.”
“Never.”
—
I glance at her face half–lit by the streetlights, fingers tapping idly on her thigh – and it takes everything in me not to lean over and kiss her until she forgets her own name. But I rein it in.
Instead, I say, “I think it’s time I told you about Jessica.”
LIAM
48 44%
17498
Chapter 138
1288 (Vouchers
“Before you start,” Emilia says, twirling her fingers together, “just know I’m a fan, okay? So if you’re gonna burst my bubble – do it slowly.”
I huff a laugh. “You can still be one after. Everyone sees a different Jessica than I do anyway.”
She nods, encouraging, so I go on.
“You remember what I told you? About how growing up rich just made Julie and me outcasts? Our parents thought having more kids would fix that – like throwing children at loneliness was a cure.”
Emilia’s quiet. Listening.
—
“By twelve, I could work a stove, change diapers, burp a baby, pick the kids up from school, help with homework – basically everything but file taxes,” I say, my mouth flattening into something bitter. “My mum didn’t believe in help. Eight kids, and she still thought she had something to prove. She wanted to be the perfect housewife, but she sucked at the house part. And the wife part.”
Emilia reaches over and lowers the radio volume, eyes still on me. “Isn’t that basically child abuse?”
I tap my fingers on the steering wheel. “Maybe. But who’s gonna hold a Calloway accountable?”
The words come out/more bitter than I intend. The resentment always catches me off guard this ancient, sour ache I’ve
never fully outgrown.
—
