Chapter 71
I was hoping that would open the door, I wanted Freya to open the door. That could put an end to the brewing anxiety in my stomach.
It was Carlos who opened the door. He raised a brow at me.
“Oh you’re back.” He remarked and I had known him way too long to notice the disappointment in his tone. “Should I prepare breakfast!”
Walking in. I nodded absent–mindedly while my eyes looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of Freya.
“Where is Freya?” I asked, walking further into the hall. It was ten in the morning and Freya never slept in this late
“Haven’t seen her since morning
Carlos casually thrown words made me whirl around at a speed thatt had the potential to snap my neck. “What?” He hadn’t seen her since morning? What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Did she actually pack a bag and leave my ass
As if he could smell my apprehension, he spoke just on cue.
“Maybe she left.” He grunted, intensifying the horrifying feeling in my stomach. I hurried towards our bedroom. I swung open the door only to find the room empty. The bed was made, like no one had slept on it last night.
Or someone did sleep on it and made the bed but my mind at present was only conjuring the worst. I went to the guest room where she used to sleep in the initial days when she had just moved in. It was empty too.
Maybe she was sleeping with Gia. She did that sometimes when Gia couldn’t sleep f
for some reason.
I gently opened the door. There were no traces of Freya but Gis was sleeping soundly. While that was disappointing, it also left me feeling slightly better. That could only mean that Freya hadn’t left. She wouldn’t leave Gia behind.
1 quietly shut the door so as to not disturb Gia’s sleep.
“Freya” There was no answer and the panic inside me was a steady hum. I needed to see her with my very eyes to believe that she hadn’t left. I had looked everywhere except the terrace. Right, I had missed the terrace.
There she was
I heaved out a sigh of relief to find her here. She hadn’t left me.
She was half sitting half lying in the lounge. Her head was resting awkwardly. She looked like someone who had fallen asleep sitting. I walked closer with quiet steps and observed her face. She looked too peaceful like this. With the back of my hand 1 grazed her cheek. It was honestly the lightest of touches but that was enough to stir her awake.She peeled her eyes open and looked at me. She looked confused at first before realization coloured her face.
“Aiden.” She sat up straight. “You are home” Her eyes scanned me, inquisitive like they were searching for injuries. “And you are fine.” She almost muttered that part to herself. It sounded like some reassurance to her own mind. Was she worried for me? I should’ve called and let her know that I was spending the night with Cillian.
“Why are you here?” I wondered why she was sleeping on the terrace. After a minute of deliberation, she admitted.
“I was worried about you. I couldn’t sleep last night.”
The words hung between us. Between yesterday and today, there was a sudden unseen barrier between us, a wall that somehow stopped me from grabbing hold of Freya and tightly wrapping my arms around her.
It wasn’t just me feeling this way. Freya awkwardly looked away. “How’s Cilliant”
“He is fine. I think. We talked
Last night Fold him all about my childhood, from the very first hit to everything. He had a difficult time processing the new image of our mother that I had drawn for him. I saw the devastation on his face, the look of despair. That was the only reason why I didn’t want him to know
But after last night I wasn’t sure that hiding the truth from him all these years was the best idea. I saw how betrayed he had felt at me keeping him out of my past. Besides if I was Gillian’s position, I too would we wanted to know.
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Chapter 71
“Okay, good. That’s good” Freya nods offering a tight lipped smile. I opened my mouth to apologise but she spoke first.
“I see if breakfast is ready” Saying that she walked past me. That was an excuse. She knew it and I knew it. We never had to think about breakfast when Carlos was there.
I hadn’t realised when she had stopped and turned around. She seemed to be thinking something before her eyes met mine.
“Gia was asking for you l last night. If you could see her before you leave for the office.”
My heart dropped. Gia. I read her bedtime stories every night. It was our thing. Of course my baby girl missed me.
“Yeah. I will
She nodded and turned back. The urge to say something to stop her compelled me to speak up just when she was about to step “I didn’t see your calls. She turned around once more at my
y voice
Inside.
“My phone went dead.” I felt the need to offer an explanation. I had behaved like a jackass yesterday. 1 asked her to freaking go away and I was grateful she hadn’t taken me up on my words. So the last thing I wanted was her to think I had purposefully switched the phone off.
She remained quiet for a fleeting second before nodding
“Okay.” No further questions, no nothing. Just a simple ‘okay and then she walked away. As I watched her disappear inside the house, I knew I had fucked up. She had retreated back into a shell and right now there was a huge huge space between us. Space that would probably just suffocate me.
Chapter 72
When I descended, my head was pounding with pain, and my heart seemed heavier than ever, crushed under the tangle of emotion th impossible to shatter.
Carlos saw me at once. His warm, brown eyes met mine.
that seemed
“Miss Wilson-” he began, his voice soft.
I said call me Freya I cut him off, looking him straight in the eye. My voice was sharp, not as soft as I meant it to be, and I was exhausted to ease it.
He nodded slightly, his forehead creasing with a laugh around the eyes. Always, always he’d discount my tantrums, like a master of patience himself “Freya. Sit. Il plate.
I did not say anything, being too exhausted to argue. I fell into one of the chairs and folded my arms over my chest as he went in the kitchen. It wasn’t more than five minutes before he re–emerged with a plate in hand.
“You baked croissants,” I exclaimed, some of the misery receding. My stomach growled at this even though I hadn’t noticed until now that I was famished
“I assumed you like them.” His voice was matter–of–fact, but the comers of his mouth tilted up in a faint smile.
“I do. Thank you.” I smiled back at him, the warmth of his thoughtfulness settling over me like a blanket. It wasn’t just the food–it was his attempt to cheer me up, to remind me that I wasn’t as alone as I felt.
He reminded me so much of Avery. The resemblance was not physical but emotional; both of them had a way of soothing the frayed edges of my mind. On second thought, Avery and Carlos would make a cute couple. If they could just meet.
I shook my head to rid myself of the thought, focusing instead on the buttery flakiness of the croissants. The taste was divine, like a piece of joy breaking through my gloom. I was lost in the comfort of it when Aiden walked in.
The minute he walked in, the air shifted. The easy warmth Carlos had created evaporated, and a tension so palpable it tightened my chest, replaced it. I didn’t look up, but I could feel his presence like a physical weight pressing down on the room.
He came over and sat down directly opposite me, moving with intention but quietly. Carlos was attentive in noticing this, producing another plate for him to prepare and then he beat it off to feed the puppies he referred to as devils, Brownie and Oreo, which scampered after him from the
Toom
The silence was deafening. I stared down at my plate, attempting to swallow both the food and the growing lump in my throat. My appetite, so briefly rekindled, was fading fast. I couldn’t ignore him forever.
“I–uh I wanted to apologize for yesterday,” I said, my voice hesitant. I dared a glance at him. His expression was neutral, but his eyes betrayed a flicker of confusion
“I shouldn’t have said all that to Gillian, I continued, the words spilling out in a rush. “You shared something huge with me, and I failed to respect your decision. I shouldn’t have. I’m really, really sorry if I complicated things between you two.
Aiden’s brow furrowed as he processed my apology. His silence made my stomach churn, but when he finally spoke, his voice was çalmı, almost
“You didn’t make things complicated between us. It’s because of you that we are talking, and I could share it with my brother. I may not have realized in earlier, but I realize it now. To keep this secret from him was probably not the most brilliant thing I ever thought of in the book.” His words should have soothed my conscience, but they did not. I couldn’t figure out why until he went on.
So, I should be apologizing. I acted like an asshole.
Tshook
my head hard. “No, no. You had all the right to be upset. I overstepped. It was a family matter, and I had no business interfering. I had no
right to let lam hear all that.”
His forehead furrowed, and he looked very surprised, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Freya, no matter how mad or frustrated I am, I don’t have the right to treat you like that. No one does. So you’re not the one at fault. It’s me. His tone was firm, leaving no room for argument.
cathless. Besides, what the fuck are your saying?
Yay mares? You are my family”
1 tear. “The conscion in which he spoke the words was breathtaking, but I could allow myself to believe them. My family had disappointed me
man times, and had learned not to expect much from anyone. Disappointment hurt less when it was anticipated.
sens narrowed, searching mine when that respond. “You know that, right
Yeah I mumbled to as my voice unconvincing even to my eng ears.
kesed me for a moment, his gaze piercing. Then he rose and moved around the table until he was standing before me. He reached out and cuppeditace in his hands holding my gare.
I’m sorry. I was an shot for selling you to go away when I can’t even fucking imagine living without you,” he confessed, his voice thick with
The words hang in the at their weight settling in my chest. My heart ached, not from pain but from the sheer magnitude of his honesty
“Last night we drank too much and I passed out on Cillian’s couch. It was irresponsible of me, I know, but today when I woke up, the thought that you might actually go away hacking terrified me. I was worried that I might come back to an empty house”
Ha vos cracked with the last words, and I could see the sincerity in his eyes. He wasn’t lying, he meant every single word.
For home
are my family. So don’t pull away from me. I can’t take it.
emotions warring within me. I wasn’t trying to pull away as some sort of punishment, but I had thought that creating some ould be better for both of us. The closer 1 got to him, the more vulnerable I became. And after what happened with his brother, I felt like head crossed a line I shouldn’t have.
ching how much it was paining him. Was like a knife twisting inside my chest.
I reached up and rugged his face toward mine, pressing my lips against his in a kiss holding all the words unspoken. When I finally broke away. I breathed low “I love you”
“And I love you. So fucking much,” he said, breaking and capturing my lips once again.
tant, my doubts and fears were no longer there. I did something I never did for anyone else: I dared to believe in a family that own. Aiden wasn’t just someone I loved, he was someone who saw me, all of me, and chose to stay.
