Chapter 92 BEFORE YOU,

Chapter 92 BEFORE YOU,
Aiden

Why did it have to be the same cabin I first broke her?

I should have chosen another place. Not the place she had bad memories of. It's not like we even had anywhere filled with happy memories to begin with.

I shut the car door and went after her.

She stopped abruptly and turned. "Where is Roman?"

I glanced back at the car, then at her.

One side of her mouth curved, not quite a smile. More like, really?

I rushed back to the car and lifted him into my arms quietly.

When she saw I was carrying him, she nodded once and continued walking with her hands clasped behind her while I followed closely.

Two of my men who had come earlier to clean up and stock the place stepped out of the cabin.

They bowed slightly. "Good evening, boss."

They greeted Leah too, who didn't acknowledge them. She was already turning toward the woods.

I called one of them over, about to hand Roman off when she said, "My son doesn't like it when strangers carry him."

Her tone was sharp, and I could feel another anger brewing in it.

"If you don't want to carry him, give him to me."

"I'll carry him," I said, meeting her eyes.

She stared long at me before smirking.

The leaves crunched under our steps as we walked into the woods without another word.

I watched her small frame move slowly through the trees, wondering what was on her mind? 

"Remember that night I tried escaping," she said suddenly, "and you chased after me?"

My heart started pounding.

Here it comes. The part I'd hoped we wouldn't touch.

I didn't answer, and it didn't seem like she wanted one.

"God," she continued, "I don't know what was scarier, you catching me, or the fact that you were completely naked, bleeding and running after me in the rain with a gun."

She burst our laughing. Like she was actually laughing and really hard at that.

The sound startled me more than her words. I had never seen her laugh like that before.

She kept laughing as she slapped her thighs, too. Then she hissed. "Fuck," clutching her side.

"Are yoy okay?" I stepped closer instinctively. 

She looked up at me, eyes watery from laughter.

"It's funny now," she said between small coughs of laughter. "But that night it wasn't. Just why? Why would you do that?"

"You could've at least worn a boxers. Not dangling your—" she cut herself off as her gaze dropped. Her cheeks flushed from a dirty memory.

"Pervert," she muttered, slapping my chest before trying to walk away.

I grabbed her arm gently. "The doctor said no long walks."

She pulled her arm free. "I'm fine."

We walked deeper, then she stopped again scanning the ground.

"Where was it again?"

"Where was what?"

"The spot the hole was."

"I didn't see it that night," she chuckled softly. "I fell into it, broke my leg, and couldn't climb back up. I thought the last thing I would've seen before dying were those dead bodies."

The forest suddenly felt like it was closing in on me. It was like it remembered, too, and was judging me.

I adjusted Roman in my arms, his weight grounding me in the present while her words dragged me backwards.

"I shouldn't have brought you here," I admitted quietly. "I really didn't want you relieving that."

She looked at me and laughed again. It wasn't hysterical , nor was it broken. And it wasn't also because she didn't believe me. "Let's go inside."

She brushed past me.

My heart began to pound faster as I clenched my fist, knowing the woods weren't the worst part. The cabin was.

And I realised something as I stood there watching her walk toward it. She wasn't afraid of the memories. I was.

Because inside that cabin lived the version of me she hated. The one who hurt her while smiling through it. 

And now I would have to face the man I was. And the one I might still be.

The hinges creaked softly as she pushed the door open. I stepped in after her and closed it behind us.

The air smelled faintly of wood Polish and regret.

She walked straight down the hallway, stopping at the bedroom door. The one I tired her up in and punished her in.

She stared at it, then turned to the wall opposite it. Her fingers pressed against a spot in the wooden wall.

"I stabbed you here."

Her voice was steady as she traced it.

"I was shaking badly, I thought I'd miss."

I membered the shock in her eyes, the split second where she thought I'd die. And the way it hardened when I caged her between me and the wall. She had twisted the knife and broken free from me. 

I huffed quietly at the memory. "That shit hurt like hell."

"You were smiling like a maniac," she said without looking at me.

Because I was amused seeing her fight back even though she knew there was no escaping me.

She exhaled through her nose. "If I had known it was all a game," she muttered. "I wouldn't have felt guilty about stabbing you."

Her gaze flicked to me. "I would've aimed for your eye."

I gave her a small smile.

The lights flicked on the moment she pushed the bedroom door open.

The room was still the way it was five years ago except the sheets and the mattress.

She moved to the headboard and stopped as she silently stared at it. And somehow, that silence was worse than when she'd been talking.

Seconds stretched to minutes, then hours as we stood there in the aftermath of something neither of us could undo.

"Do you regret it?"

"I regret that I thought it was the only way to keep you."

She turned slowly and faced me fully, her eyes searching my face.

"For the last time, Aiden, are you going to hurt me if I let my guard down with you?"

She stood there like she'd already survived the worst of me and was deciding if she wanted to risk the rest.

I watched her breath slow and controlled, waiting for my reply she seemed to already know.

I held her gaze and then answered as honestly as I could.

"I could."

Her eye twitched.

"I'm capable of it. I always will be."

No more excuses. No more justifying what I did. No more empty promises I can't keep. Just the truth we were both aware of.

Because that part of me wasn't gone. It was contained.

"But I don't want to be the reason you cry anymore."

I shouldn't be.

"So I won't."



The cabin had gone annoyingly quiet after Leah went to bed, too.

My feet hung slightly over the edge of the couch as I stared at the ceiling, waiting for sleep that never came.

My phone buzzed on the coffee table, and I reached for it.

Storm: You didn't show up today?

Shit.

I had forgotten I was supposed to see Laura today.

I dragged a hand through my hair , stood, and walked into the kitchen.

The fridge light spilt into the dark as I pulled out a bottle of water. 

I twisted the cap and took a long, slow drink, trying not to think of the responsibility I abandoned to deal with another.

I noticed something shift in the corner of my eyes and I jerked, turning sharply. 

"Jesus fucking christ."

A small figure stood just beyond the light, blonde hair catching the glow from the living room.