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I put on a new shirt, a new pair of pants, and shoes.
My father’s phone call wasn’t just a check-in … it was a warning. If I don’t get my shit together and get this done, I’m gonna get punished.
I have no choice but to continue with this even though I want to give her time to think about my offer. I must go back there to her apartment and figure it out together, sooner rather than later.
But I still have one ace up my sleeve … her mother.
Chapter 9
Natalie
I’m cleaning up my apartment when the doorbell rings. It’s only been a few hours since he left, so it can’t be him, right? I look through the peephole and take a step back when I see those same striking eyes that haunt me every single time.
It’s really him. He’s come back … but why?
For a moment, I hesitate to even open the door. What if he’s come to snatch me away? I know he said he wouldn’t, but can I even trust him for his word? I told him to stay, and instead, he left without saying a single word. Even though I told myself not to care, it still hurt.
“Why did you come back?” I ask.
“We have to talk,” he says. “It’s important.”
My brows furrow. “It was important before too. What’s changed?”
“There’s something I haven’t told you.”
I knew it. I knew he was hiding something from me.
I unlock the safety chain and open the door, staring at him with my arms folded.
“I’m sorry I walked off like that,” he says. “I should’ve said something, but I was … overwhelmed.”
I raise my brows. “You? Overwhelmed?”
“I never considered the option of staying here …” he says, coming closer to grab my hand. “With you.”
“It hurt when you ran off like that, especially after—” I can’t even say the words without blushing.
“I know. And I apologize for making you feel that way,” he says, rubbing his lips together. “Can I come inside?”
I bite my lip and contemplate it for a second. “Only if you tell me everything you’ve been keeping a secret from me.”
He nods once, and it’s enough for me. I turn around and let him back in, closing the door shut behind us. He leans against the table, hands clutching the wood. “I didn’t want to tell you because you’re obviously in a bad situation right now, trying to live here all by yourself while pregnant too,” he says.
“Get to the point,” I say.
His nails dig into the wood. “Your mother … is still alive.”
My heart stops.
At that very moment, it feels as though the world has shifted on its axis and left me hanging. Like the earth itself is being swept right from underneath my feet. Like I can’t fucking breathe.
“She’s … alive?” I mutter, tears filling my eyes.
He turns his head and looks at me, then nods.
The tears flow freely now, and a smile can’t help but form on my lips. But it’s a bittersweet smile. “She’s alive. She’s alive … oh my God.” I cover my mouth with my hands.
Everything’s shaking, and my legs feel as though they’re about to give up.
Noah immediately grabs a chair and positions it behind me before I lose my balance.
“Careful there,” he says, holding me in place so I don’t topple over.
“No, no, it can’t be,” I mutter, hyperventilating.
“Calm down,” he says, blowing out breath after breath. “Calm your breathing. Like this. Think of the baby.” He keeps doing it until I’m less panicky and more in control over my emotions again. “There, you’ve got it.”
I shake my head. “But … she sacrificed herself for me in that fire. I thought she’d died,” I say. “And now I find out she’s alive?”
“I know it’s hard to believe, but—”
“How is she?” I interrupt.
He lowers his head, almost as though he’s unable to look at me. “She’s … not in a great condition.”
More tears start to flow. “I have to see her.”
“You know that’s not possible,” he says.
“I don’t care, I want to see her,” I say, delirious with the need to get back to my mother. “I have to see her before … before …” I can’t finish this sentence.
“It’s going to be okay,” he says, and he grabs both my hands, clutching them tightly. “They’re taking care of her.”
“But she’s still there, in that soulless community! No one cares for the women there!” I shout.
“Yes, they do,” he says. “I’ve told them to take utmost care of her, to the best of their abilities.”
That means nothing. “We’ve got to get her out of there.”
“That’s impossible,” he says, shaking his head. “You know the trouble she went through to get you out of there, you think it’s gonna be easy to get her out?”
“No, but you’re a patriarch. You have privileges,” I reply, and I lean over to stare straight into his soul. “You’ve done it before, Noah. You can do it again.”
