Tripp’s stomach knotted.He could hear his mother’s voice even now, sharp as a knife:Girls like that always want more than they deserve.He pressed his thumb against the rim of the mug, grounding himself.
“She’ll never accept Nicole,” he admitted.The words tasted bitter.“She didn’t then.She won’t now.”
“Then the question is simple,” Paige said.“Are you willing to watch someone you care about be mistreated by your mother?”
The air seemed to thicken.He swallowed hard.His first instinct was to argue, to say he could handle it, that Nicole was strong enough to handle it too.But Paige’s eyes pinned him down, demanding more than the easy answer.And sadly, there wasn’t one.
Finally, he shook his head.“No.I’m not willing.”
“Good,” Paige said softly.“Because if you can’t stand up to your mother now, you’ll lose Nicole all over again.And this time, she won’t come back.”
Tripp rubbed the back of his neck, the muscles tight.“You think I don’t know that?”He blew out a bitter laugh.“Paige, I’ve spent half my life hating her.Believing she didn’t love me enough to fight.Do you know what that does to a man?To carry that around while you imagine her building a life without you?”
How many nights had he lain awake, tormented by the thought of her in another man’s arms?How many times had her name slipped past his lips in the dark, whispered into the wrong woman’s hair, a ghost he could never banish?And always—always—he found himself dragged back to the memory of their wedding night, the one perfect moment before it all unraveled.He had clung to it, cursed it, wished himself back inside it with a desperation that hollowed him out.
Paige’s gaze softened, but she didn’t flinch.“And now you know the truth.”
“Yeah.That my mother stole her from me.”He looked down at his hands, flexing them open and closed.“It’s not just about losing Nicole.It’s about losing us.The life we should have had.The years that should have been ours.Graduating from college together.Going to law school, passing the bar, and having a family.By now, we should have had the two-point-five kids we talked about.It may be too late for a family, but damn, I want a little girl with her coloring and a son with her eyes.Damn them!”
The words lodged in his throat, thick and aching.He had never spoken them aloud, never allowed himself to even think them fully.But now that they were out, he couldn’t stop.
“I remember that night,” he said, voice low.“I remember cleaning out the Mustang, shining it up, making it perfect because I thought I was driving her into forever.She was going to wear that white sundress; she thought it was silly, but she still wore it because she wanted to look like a bride.And then…our wedding night.The next morning, we promised to bring our parents together.But I was a fool.I should never have gotten into that limo.”
“Could you have stopped your parents?”
“Probably not,” he said.“But I could have refused.”
He trailed off, the memory slicing open like a wound.
Paige reached across the table, resting her hand on his.“You weren’t a fool.You were betrayed.By the people who should have loved you both the most.”
His throat tightened.He looked away, blinking hard against the burn in his eyes.
Paige’s voice was softer now.“You’ve always been strong, Tripp.Always.But this…this is your weakness.And if you want Nicole back, if you even want the chance, you have to decide if you’re willing to fight your mother this time.Not argue.Not push back a little.Fight.Because Suzanne Masterson won’t give up control without blood.”
Her words landed with brutal clarity.He could picture it already, Nicole in his mother’s presence, being dismissed with that icy disdain, diminished in every possible way.And Nicole wouldn’t take it silently.She’d fight back.Which meant the war would be constant.
Tripp dragged in a deep breath.“Then I’ll have to choose Nicole.Every time.”
Paige’s lips curved into the faintest smile.“Good.Because she deserves nothing less.And so do you.”
The silence stretched, broken only by the ocean beyond the windows.For the first time in years, Tripp felt like he’d said something true.Something final.
But it didn’t make him feel lighter.It made him feel the weight of what was coming.
Because he knew a war was inevitable, one with his mother, maybe even with Nicole’s parents.Lines had already been drawn, and soon they would all be forced to choose.Either they accepted him and Nicole together, found a way to ask for forgiveness and move on, or they could walk away and stay gone.As for him, there was no choice to make.Right now, all he wanted was Nicole.The rest of them, their judgment, their power, their lies, be damned.
He looked at Paige.“She told me tonight, she won’t see me.Not until after the trial.”
“Smart,” Paige said.“It keeps the lines clean.You’re both professionals, and the jury doesn’t need to see anything that looks like collusion.”
“It’s hell,” he muttered.
“It’s temporary.You’ve waited twenty years, what’s a few more days?”Paige corrected.She leaned back, studying him.“The bigger question is what happens after?If you two manage to dig through this mess and come out standing, what then?Are you ready to let go of the Masterson legacy if it means keeping her?”
Tripp’s chest tightened.The firm.The family name.Everything he had been told mattered.He thought of his mother’s voice again:You’ll thank me one day.
Since his father’s death, the law firm had been his anchor, his duty, the legacy he was bound to protect.But standing here now, none of it mattered.He would walk away from every polished boardroom, every cent of his inheritance, if it meant a life with Nicole.They could carve out their own future, stripped of expectations and family chains.He didn’t care about the firm, the money, or the name he’d been raised to revere.Nicole was all that mattered—she always had been.
