The threat should sting, but it doesn’t. Maybe because I hear what comes next, quieter, almost grudging: “Until then... thank you.”
It’s nothing. Just two words. But from Maggie, it feels like the opening of a door that’s been locked for years. A truce. A sliver of trust she would never admit to giving.
I nod once, not pushing it. She wouldn’t let me, and I wouldn’t insult her by trying. I turn back toward the car, the winter air biting at my cheeks. Still, something in me has shifted.
I need to get my girl back and I’m going to fight for her this time.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
Nova Marshall
PRESENT (2023)
“In pop music, you say, you can do what you want to me.’ Rock ‘n’ roll says, ‘I’m gonna do what I want to you.”
Joan Jett
––––––––
I shove the window open so fast it bangs against the frame. Cold night air rushes in, stinging my cheeks.
“Go away.” My voice comes out sharp, shaking with fury I’ve been holding in for over a week.
Down below, three stories beneath me, stands Vincent—the idiot, the coward, the man who shattered my heart. He’s standing under a flickering streetlight, holding a ridiculous aluminum ladder under one arm, like this is some 2000s rom-com instead of the mess he made of us.
“Nova,” he calls up, his voice echoing faintly between the narrow city buildings. “Can we talk?”
“No!” I hiss. “Go away before someone calls the cops. Actually—no, let them! Maybe they can arrest you for being a pain in the ass.”
Roxy starts circling my feet, tail puffed up like she can feel my anger.
“Please,” he says, his voice cracking just enough to sound desperate. “Just five minutes.”
“Five minutes?” I lean out the window, glaring down at him. “You disappeared for years and you think you can fix that in five minutes? What are you even doing with a ladder, Cooper? Planning to reenactRomeo and Juliet?”
That stupid smirk appears on his face—the same one that used to undo me. “It worked when we were kids,” he says. “Remember?”
For a heartbeat, something inside me cracks—nostalgia slipping through the anger—but I shove it back down. I can’t forgive him this fast. Not again. “That was before you turned into a coward who runs from everything that scares him.”
He winces, but still sets the ladder up against the brick wall. “I deserve that,” he mutters, and starts climbing.
“Vincent, I swear to God, if you fall and die, I’m not calling an ambulance.” A lie.
“Then I’ll die knowing I tried,” he says breathlessly, climbing the last few rungs until he’s level with my window. His hair’s a mess, his hands scraped from the metal, his eyes wild and tired. “Please, Nova. Just listen.”
I cross my arms, blocking the window. “Say what you need to say from out there.”
“I’m not leaving until you hear me,” he says quietly. “You can slam the window, you can curse me out, you can throw your cat at me—”
“Don’t you dare bring Roxy into this,” I warn.
He raises both hands. “Okay, okay. Just... please. Let me explain. I screwed up. I know I did. I was terrified. Every time I looked at you, I saw how much you loved me, and I didn’t think I deserved it. I didn’t think I deservedyou. So I ran. Because that’s what I do. Because I’m my father’s son.”
I fold my arms tighter, but something about his voice—the rawness—makes my chest ache. “And in the process, you made me believe what my mother used to tell me,” I whisper. “That you were going to leave me after having sex with me. After using me. You made her right.”
He flinches, like the words physically hit him. “I know,” he whispers. “And I hate myself for that. I swear, I’d give anything to undo it. But I can’t. All I can do is prove to you that I won’t run again. That I’ll stay. You don’t have to forgive me, not tonight, not tomorrow—just... please let me try. I love you, Nova. I’m so in love with you.”
I let the silence stretch, letting himstewin it. Roxy jumps onto the windowsill and meows at him like she’s mocking his misery.
