Chapter 122 Chapter 122
Cass didn’t rush home.
For the first time in a long time, she wasn’t running toward answers or away from them.
She just walked.
Jace beside her.
Lena a step ahead, kicking a loose stone down the pavement like she was trying to shake off everything they had just lived through.
No one spoke for a while.
They didn’t need to.
The silence wasn’t heavy anymore.
It was… settled.
When they reached her street, Lena stopped.
She turned back, looking between Cass and Jace.
“Well,” she said, softer than usual, “this is where I pretend I have boundaries and don’t follow you into family emotional warfare.”
Cass smiled faintly.
“Thank you,” she said.
Lena nodded.
Then, after a beat—
“You good?” she asked.
Cass held her gaze.
And this time, the answer came easier.
“Yeah,” she said.
Lena studied her for a second, then gave a small nod.
“Okay,” she said. “Then go end your story.”
And just like that, she turned and walked off.
Jace stayed.
Of course he did.
Cass glanced at him as they reached the front door.
“You don’t have to come in,” she said.
Jace shook his head.
“I know,” he said.
A pause.
“But I’m not leaving.”
Something in her chest softened at that.
She didn’t argue.
The house was quiet when they stepped in.
Too quiet.
Her mom was in the living room this time.
Sitting.
Waiting.
Like she already knew how this was going to go.
Cass stopped a few steps in.
Jace stayed slightly behind her.
Not hiding.
Just… letting this be hers.
Her mom looked up.
Their eyes met.
And for a second—
it felt like everything they hadn’t said over the years sat right there between them.
“You found him,” her mom said quietly.
Not a question.
Cass nodded.
“Yes.”
Silence.
Her mom’s hands tightened slightly in her lap.
“Is he…” she started, then stopped.
Cass stepped closer.
“He’s alive,” she said.
That seemed to take something out of her mom.
A breath she had been holding for years.
She nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
Cass studied her.
Really looked at her.
Not as the person who made decisions for her.
But as someone who had been carrying things too.
“You knew,” Cass said.
Her mom didn’t deny it.
“Yes.”
Cass’s voice stayed calm.
“You knew I didn’t cause it.”
Her mom’s eyes flickered.
“Cass—”
“You knew,” Cass repeated.
Softer this time.
But firmer.
Her mom exhaled slowly.
“Yes,” she admitted.
The word landed heavy.
But not in a way that broke Cass.
Not anymore.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Cass asked.
No anger.
Just… clarity.
Her mom looked down briefly.
Then back up.
“I thought I was protecting you,” she said.
Cass let out a small breath.
“I know.”
And she did.
That was the difference now.
She understood the intention.
Even if she didn’t agree with the result.
“But you also made me carry something that wasn’t mine,” Cass added.
Her mom’s expression tightened.
Because that was true too.
Jace shifted slightly behind her, but didn’t interrupt.
Her mom stood slowly.
“I didn’t know how to explain it without reopening everything,” she said.
Cass nodded.
“And I didn’t know how to let it go without knowing the truth,” she replied.
That landed.
Right in the middle.
Where both of them had been stuck.
Silence settled again.
But it wasn’t tense.
It was… honest.
Her mom stepped closer.
Careful.
Like she wasn’t sure how close she was allowed to get anymore.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
And this time—
it wasn’t defensive.
It wasn’t explained away.
It was just… real.
Cass looked at her.
Long.
Measuring.
Feeling.
Then she nodded once.
“I know,” she said.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But not rejection either.
That was enough for now.
Cass stepped back slightly.
Creating space.
Not distance.
Just… room to breathe.
“I’m not angry anymore,” she said quietly.
Her mom blinked.
“Then what are you?”
Cass thought about it.
Then answered honestly.
“I’m done carrying it.”
That changed everything.
Because it wasn’t about blame anymore.
It was about release.
Her mom’s eyes filled slightly, but she didn’t cry.
She just nodded.
Like she understood what that meant.
And what it cost.
Cass turned slightly.
Jace was still there.
Still steady.
Still watching her like she wasn’t something fragile.
Like she was something strong.
“You stayed,” she said to him.
Jace shrugged lightly.
“I said I would.”
Cass stepped closer to him.
“You didn’t try to fix it,” she said.
“I couldn’t,” he replied.
A pause.
“But I could stay.”
Cass smiled faintly.
And this time—
it reached her eyes.
She leaned into him.
Not like she needed support.
But like she chose it.
Jace’s hand found hers easily.
Like it had always known where it belonged.
Behind them, her mom didn’t interrupt.
Didn’t step in.
She just watched.
And maybe, for the first time—
let Cass decide her own ending.
Later, when the house had quieted again, Cass sat by her window.
The same place she had once written down fears she didn’t understand.
The same place she had tried to make sense of something that never made sense.
She opened her diary.
Flipped through old pages.
Words filled with guilt.
Confusion.
Blame that never belonged to her.
Then she turned to a blank page.
Paused.
And wrote:
It wasn’t my fault.
She stared at it for a second.
Let it settle.
Then added:
But it’s my life.
Cass closed the diary.
Set it aside.
And leaned back.
Looking out at the night.
Nothing had changed out there.
The world was still the same.
Messy.
Unpredictable.
Real.
But inside her—
everything was different.
She wasn’t the girl trying to piece together a broken story anymore.
She was the one who chose how it ended.
And for the first time—
that felt like enough.