Chapter 148

Chapter 148

Reed’s POV

Reed was halfway through arguing with Carmen about whether babies could actually sense emotional tension when his phone started ringing.

He glanced at the screen, it was Damian Blackwood.

For a second, he considered not answering.

Not out of spite—though there was some of that—but because he already knew what this call would be about. The case had crossed a line today, several lines, actually. Legal ones, moral ones, emotional ones. And Reed had spent the better part of the afternoon holding Evelyn together with careful words and professional distance, even as his own chest still felt tight from what had come out in that courtroom.

He exhaled slowly and answered.

“Reed,” Damian’s voice came through, low and controlled, but Reed had known him long enough to hear what lived beneath it.

“Damian,” Reed replied evenly. “What do you need?”

There was a pause.

“I need Evelyn’s address.”

Reed closed his eyes briefly.

There it was, straight to the point, as always. No apology, no preamble, no acknowledgment of the wreckage left behind. Just a request, delivered like a business inquiry.

Reed leaned back against the kitchen counter, folding his arms. Carmen stopped talking mid-sentence and looked at him, her brows knitting together. She mouthed, Who is it?

Reed shook his head slightly and turned away from Carmen.

“Why?” Reed asked calmly.

Another pause, longer this time.

“I want to see her.”

Reed let out a short, humorless laugh. “You want to see her.”

“Yes.”

“Damian,” Reed said, keeping his voice measured, “you don’t just get to decide that.”

“I know,” Damian replied. “That’s why I’m asking.”

Reed’s jaw tightened. He pushed off the counter and paced slowly, memories crashing into him whether he wanted them to or not—Evelyn shaking after court, her hands cold despite the warm afternoon, the way she’d gone still when the truth about the twins came out, like her body couldn’t decide whether to scream or collapse.

“She’s not ready,” Reed said firmly.

“I didn’t say she was,” Damian replied. “But I am.”

That earned another bitter laugh from Reed. “You think this is about you being ready?”

Damian was silent.

Reed stopped pacing. “Do you have any idea what you did to her?”

“I do,” Damian said quietly. “More than you think.”

“You questioned her integrity,” Reed continued, voice sharpening despite his effort to stay calm. “You sent her away with a newborn based on falsified evidence. You let another woman poison your judgment. And today you sat there while she learned the child she didn’t even know she had was taken.”

Damian didn’t interrupt.

“That’s not something you fix with a visit,” Reed said.

“I’m not trying to fix it,” Damian replied. “I just… need to look at her and say it.”

Reed scoffed softly. “Say what?”

“I’m sorry.”

The words were quiet, almost swallowed.

Reed closed his eyes again.

He wanted to believe Damian meant it. He really did, he’d known him for years—had watched him build walls around himself brick by brick, had seen how rare it was for him to admit fault, let alone regret. But Evelyn wasn’t a lesson, she wasn’t a step in Damian’s emotional evolution. She was a woman who had been hurt deeply, unfairly, and publicly.

“She shook her head when you mouthed it in court,” Reed said. “Did that not tell you anything?”

Damian’s breath came through the phone, heavier now. “It told me she’s in pain.”

“And you think showing up at her door will help that pain?” Reed asked.

“No,” Damian said honestly. “But staying away won’t either.”

Reed rubbed a hand over his face.

Carmen peeked around the corner, her expression softer now, curious but restrained. Reed gave her a small shake of his head—not yet.

“Where is she?” Damian pressed.

Reed leaned against the wall, staring at nothing. “She’s safe, she’s supported and she’s surrounded by people who actually listen to her.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“That’s all you’re getting for now.”

Damian’s voice dropped. “Father told me to ask you.”

Reed almost smiled at that, Gregory always knew where pressure points lived.

“And I’m telling you no,” Reed replied.

Another stretch of silence.

“You don’t trust me,” Damian said finally.

Reed didn’t hesitate. “Not right now.”

“I deserve that,” Damian admitted.

That surprised Reed enough that he paused.

“I’m not asking as Damian Blackwood,” Damian continued. “I’m asking as the father of her children.”

Reed’s grip tightened on the phone.

“That title,” Reed said quietly, “is something you’re going to have to earn back.”

Damian exhaled slowly. “Then tell me how.”

Reed thought of Evelyn again—how she’d curled slightly inward since the revelation, how grief had layered itself over anger in a way that scared him more than tears ever could.

“You wait,” Reed said. “You let the case unfold, you let the truth settle, you let her decide if she wants to see you.”

“And if she never does?”

Reed’s voice was steady. “Then you live with that.”

The weight of that statement seemed to land hard on the other end of the call.

“I won’t show up uninvited,” Damian said after a moment. “But when the time comes… I want to be there.”

Reed sighed. “When the time comes, I’ll let you know.”

Carmen stepped fully into view now, her arms crossed. Reed caught her eye and gave a small nod.

“Take care of her,” Damian said quietly.

Reed’s tone softened just a fraction. “We would.”

The call ended.

Reed lowered the phone and stood there for a long moment, staring at the dark screen. Carmen walked over and rested her head briefly against his shoulder.

“That was him, wasn’t it?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“He wants to see her.”

“I know.”

Carmen sighed. “Do you think he should?”

Reed looked toward the living room, where Evelyn’s soft laughter drifted faintly as she spoke to the baby, unaware of the conversation that had just taken place about her life.

“I think,” Reed said slowly, “that some apologies need time to stop sounding like damage control.”

Carmen nodded.

Reed slipped his phone into his pocket.

Some lines, once crossed, couldn’t be uncrossed.

And some doors—no matter how badly someone wanted
back in—had to stay closed until the person inside was ready to open them.

So, Damian had to wait till Evelyn was ready to see him, speak to him, and forgive him.