Chapter 148: Hundred and Forty Eight
The house felt weird. Like something in the air had changed. I was just glad that we were leaving soon. With all the good memories, now this house was tainted by horrible memories too.
I tried to act normal. I poured cereal into Noah’s bowl, kissed the top of his messy hair, and nodded along as he rambled about which animal could beat which in a fight. Declan moved around us, distracted, his phone in his hand more often than not.
When the phone buzzed, I caught the name flashing across the screen before he turned it slightly away: Mom.
He sighed through his nose, then pushed back from the counter. “I need to take this,” he said, already walking toward the hallway.
Something in my chest clenched.
I should’ve let him go. I should’ve stayed with Noah, focused on the ordinary safe conversation about tigers and elephants. But my feet moved of their own accord, quietly, intentionally quiet, against the floorboards. I hovered just around the corner, pressed my back against the wall, and listened.
“Mother.” Declan’s tone was clipped, polite enough to be icy.
Emma’s voice was sharp even though it was muffled through the line. “You’ve embarrassed us, Declan. Do you even realize what you’ve done? Parading that girl in front of me, letting me discover your secret like some common gossip. What do you think your Dad will do when he finds out?”
Declan cut in, his voice low but firm. “It wasn’t a parade. It was the truth. I love her. I have nothing to hide. That is the truth.”
“The truth?” Emma’s laugh was cold. “The truth is she’s been hiding a child for years. A child born out of recklessness, with a woman who abandoned you. And now what, she waltzes back in and you welcome her with open arms?”
My stomach dropped. I suddenly wanted to throw up.
“Stop,” Declan snapped. “You don’t know the whole story.”
“I know enough,” Emma bit back. “I know she ran. I know she kept that boy from you. I know she left you broken, Declan. I saw the person you had become. And now she shows up with her wide eyes and shitty excuses, and you’re ready to throw away everything for her? Do you not see what’s happening?”
I pressed a hand to my mouth to keep from gasping. My pulse thudded in my ears.
Declan’s footsteps paced across the wooden floor. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
“She is manipulating you,” Emma pressed, her voice low and poisonous. “This is not love, it’s convenience. She’s poor, she’s always been poor, and now she sees the safety of the Hale name. Especially for her son. Do you think I can’t see it?”
My throat tightened, hot tears pricking my eyes.
“She is the mother of my son,” Declan said fiercely. “This isn’t about convenience. It’s about family.”
“Family?” Emma scoffed. “That boy has been raised by another man. He calls him father. What place do you have? Biology doesn’t make you a parent, Declan. Do you really think you can step in now, upend his life, and he’ll welcome you with open arms?”
Declan’s voice broke a little. “I don’t know what he’ll do. But I know I can’t ignore him. He’s mine.”
Emma’s voice sharpened. “And what about her? That girl you’ve decided to play house with again? Do you honestly believe she loves you? Or is she clinging to the only man who can save her from the life she chose?”
My lungs burned, and I slid down the wall, crouched on the floor with my arms wrapped around myself.
Declan’s voice came fast, rough. “She has always loved me. Even when she left, especially when she left, it was never about not loving me. You don’t know the half of it.”
“And you think I’ll just accept this?” Emma spat. “That I’ll welcome her, that child, into this family? Do you know what people will say? Do you know what this will do to your career, to our name?”
“I don’t fucking care,” Declan said. “I don’t fucking care about Hale Corp or who becomes the successor and I don’t care about the money.”
“Yes, you do.” Emma’s voice softened, dangerously so. “You’ve always cared, Declan. The money, the house, it has made you who you are, no matter how much you deny it. And if we keep Hale Corp aside, your academic career, too. You’ve worked your whole life for this, your reputation, your standing, your success. And you’ll lose it all for her. For a mistake.”
Mistake. The word rang in my head like a heavy bell.
Declan’s voice thundered back, shaking even me. “He is not a mistake. She is not a mistake. The only mistake I made was letting her walk away all those years ago.”
There was silence then, heavy and suffocating. I could hear the faint echo of Declan’s breathing, quick and uneven.
Emma’s voice returned, cool and clipped. “You’ll regret this.”
The line clicked dead.
Declan stood there for a long moment, I could hear his stillness as clearly as his pacing earlier. Then his footsteps moved back toward the kitchen.
I scrambled up, swiping at my face, forcing myself back into the living room. Noah was still humming to himself, drawing towers on paper now, oblivious. I sat next to him, my hands shaking as I sat down beside him.
Declan walked back in a moment later, his face composed, phone in his pocket. “Ready to start packing up?” he asked, his voice neutral, casual.
I nodded, smiling at Noah. “Yeah. Let’s get ready.”
The rest of the day passed in a blur of movement, and I was glad for the folding of clothes, zipping of bags, washing of dishes. We ate sandwiches by the lake, Noah running back and forth to show us his treasures: a smooth rock, a bent feather, a stick he insisted looked like a sword.
I laughed where I was supposed to, nodded where I needed to. But Emma’s words circled in my head like vultures.
She’s using you.
She’s poor, she’s always been poor.
You’ll regret this.
The next morning, we loaded the car. Noah chattered from the back seat, clutching his bag of rock like it was gold. Declan hummed under his breath as he drove.
I stared out the window, the blur of trees rushing past, my chest tight.
He believed in us. He believed we could fight.
But Emma’s voice was louder than the road, louder than Noah’s laughter.
I knew things were going to get ugly. I just didnt know how much.