Chapter 77 FATE AT IT AGAIN
Waking up this morning, I was left with a terrible headache from everything that had happened yesterday. On top of that, I couldn’t stop worrying about Jaxon. He had refused to eat anything since yesterday and I had stay up late waiting for Nancy’s reply to the file I sent her.
There was just too much running through my mind.
All I wanted at that moment was a break—a moment of peace where I didn’t have to worry about Jaxon or anything else.
Making my way out of my room, I headed toward Jaxon’s room, hoping to at least find him resting.
But as I pushed the door open slightly, I found him sitting on his bed, his back resting against the pillows, his full attention glued to his laptop.
I knew he was trying to make sure everything about the opening of our new site went smoothly, but I could still tell he was barely holding himself together.
I sighed and walked over to him.
“Can you take a break? At this point, you’re toying with your health, and I don’t like it,” I said, frustration creeping into my voice.
But he didn’t even look up from his laptop.
“You’ll go to the hotel this morning and make sure everything is in order,” he said calmly. “We’ve been so busy that we didn’t even inspect the furniture that was moved in or the interior décor.”
He finally looked up at me through the reading glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.
“I’m leaving that to you. Make sure everything that isn’t in order is fixed.”
Anger surged through me as I stared at him.
“Can you stop making my life difficult?” I snapped. “Take your medication, have something to eat, and get some rest, would you?”
Without waiting for his response, I turned and stormed out of his room.
How could someone who knew his health condition still play around with the very things his doctor had warned him to avoid?
Making my way back to the living room, I could feel the pain in my head doubling. It throbbed relentlessly behind my temples.
I needed a cold bath.
But before I could even leave the living room, the doorbell rang.
At first, I thought I had heard wrong. We weren’t expecting anyone.
Then it rang again.
Walking over to the monitor, I froze the moment Nancy’s face appeared on the screen. From the look on her face alone, I could tell something was terribly wrong.
“Nancy? Why are you here this early?” I asked as soon as I opened the door.
“Where is he? Where’s Jaxon?” she asked, pushing past me before I could even react.
“He’s upstairs. Did something happen?” I asked, quickly following after her.
But she seemed completely out of it.
“No, nothing happened. I just… I really need to talk to him,” she replied.
Her gaze met mine for a brief moment.
There was no anger in her eyes.
Only pain.
And confusion.
The kind of confusion that comes when someone discovers something they can’t quite bring themselves to believe.
Letting out a heavy sigh, I nodded.
“He’s in his room… being an ass,” I muttered, trying my best to keep my own emotions in check. This clearly wasn’t about me.
I watched as she hurried up the stairs, almost rushing.
And that was when I noticed the photograph tightly squeezed in her hand.
My heart sank.
Don’t tell me she’s here to tell Jaxon about what we talked about.
Jaxon’s POV
I was already barely holding myself together today.
I didn’t think I could deal with Troy and his nagging right now. Everything already felt suffocating enough.
Running a hand through my hair, I decided to take a shower, hoping the cold water might clear the chaos clouding my mind.
But just as I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it onto the bed, my door suddenly burst open.
I expected to see Troy storming back in to nag me again.
Instead, I froze in surprise.
Nancy stood at the doorway.
At first, she looked angry.
Or at least, that was what I thought.
But then she closed the door behind her and slowly began walking toward me.
But instead of being met with the angry gaze I had expected, I found her staring at me like she was trying to understand something.
She kept moving closer until there was no space left between us.
Her eyes never left mine.
At first, I stared back in confusion. But then her expression began to change.
It was as if she was trying to reassure herself about something.
Then came denial.
Then pain.
And finally… something else.
Relief.
“I… I can’t believe this,” I heard her mutter under her breath.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong? Did something happen?” I asked, unable to stop myself.
But she shook her head.
Her gaze finally dropped from mine and rested on the folded picture in her hand. Then she looked back at me again.
This time, tears rolled freely down her cheeks.
Something tightened painfully in my chest.
I hated seeing her in pain.
“Here,” she said, handing me the picture.
I took it from her, confused, before slowly unfolding it.
The moment I saw it, I froze.
And just like that, I understood why she was acting this way.
“It was you,” she whispered. “You’re the boy from that night.”
I simply stared at her, unsure of what to say.
I hadn’t expected her to figure it out this soon.
But I guess she did.
Now the question was… how was I supposed to tell her the truth?
That the trauma she went through back then might have been because of me.
If she hadn’t helped me that night…
If she hadn’t held my hand when I was at my weakest…
Maybe she would have never even known about the existence of Ravyn Vale.
But instead…
I brought that darkness into her life.
Nancy’s POV
The way he quickly averted his gaze told me he was already aware of all this.
Wait a minute.
Did he know about this before wanting to buy my parents’ ranch? How long had he been fooling me?
“Did you…” I began, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask the question trapped on my lips.
“I didn’t know it was you until yesterday,” he said, his gaze finally lifting to meet mine before he ran a hand through his hair.
For a moment, we both just stood there staring at each other.
The painful memories we had both been forced to live through seemed to play silently in our minds.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice heavy with guilt. “I’m really sorry you had to go through that because of me. You didn’t deserve any of it.”
He tossed the picture onto the bed before sitting down at the edge of it.
Then he buried his face in his hands, as if simply looking at me caused him more pain than the memories already tormenting him.
Wiping the tears from my cheeks, I moved closer and sat beside him.
“You don’t have to be sorry,” I said softly. “I have never blamed you for what happened.”
I hoped my words would help him let go of at least some of the guilt crushing him.
“No child our age deserved what happened to us, no matter the circumstances. We were both victims.”
But the most important thing I wanted to say… I couldn’t say it.
The question I wanted to ask…
I couldn’t even bring myself to form the words.
Fate felt like it was playing some cruel game with me, and I knew it might only be a matter of time before he found out about Renna.
I had come here this morning fully prepared to confront him. To demand answers if I had to.
I had been angry.
Devastated.
But the moment I pressed the doorbell, the anger disappeared.
And with it went the blame and the years of pain I had carried while raising Renna all on my own—the very pain that had slowly turned into hatred toward him.
It all vanished.
And when I walked in and saw him…
All I could see was the twelve-year-old boy.
Curled up on that rusty, filthy floor, begging for his mother to come save him.
The boy who had been so terrified that he wet himself while trying to endure the endless beatings.
The boy who kept crying, even when no one was there to hear him.
My chest tightened painfully.
I suddenly felt so weak.
As if something had drained every ounce of strength from my body.