“I heard you caused quite a scene yesterday,” she said coolly. “Dragging my fiancé into your mess. The town is talking again.”
I shrugged. “They always do.”
“Do you enjoy destroying things?” she snapped. “His reputation. Our relationship.”
I leaned back. “Funny. I was thinking the same about you.”
Her jaw tightened. “I am not here to discuss the past. He loves me. You need to accept that.”
“Are you sure?”
I stepped behind her, close enough for my presence to press in.
“What are you afraid of,” I whispered, “if you trust him so completely, when he held me here all night?”
Her body stiffened. The porcelain rattled as she set the cup down.
“It does not matter,” she said, voice unsteady. “He will marry me. You will always be the girl who cheated.”
“You know that was a lie.”
She turned on me. “Everyone knows you slept with his cousin.”
“You held me while I cried,” I said quietly. “You said you believed me.”
“I said what you needed to hear,” she snapped. “You were lonely.”
That was enough.
I leaned closer. “What if I told you I never had the abortion?”
She jolted so hard the cup tipped, coffee spilling across the table.
“You are lying,” she whispered.
“You left me at the clinic,” I said calmly. “After convincing me he would never accept the baby.”
Her breath hitched.
“I have his son.”
The words landed heavy and final.
I was smiling when the door slammed open.
The sound cracked through the cottage, rattling the walls. We froze.
Ashton stood in the doorway, chest heaving, a crumpled paper bag clenched in his hand. The scent of coffee and breakfast filled the room, painfully ordinary.
His eyes moved from Lynda’s pale face to mine.
The silence thickened.
Too late.
Everything had already been said.
Chapter 15
