My heart stutters wildly.
Why would he register under a woman’s name?
Unless . . .
The door opens behind me, and as if I manifested my answer, Kade walks in. And right beside him, close enough that her arm brushes his, isher.
The woman from the photo Martha showed me weeks ago.
Everything inside me goes cold.
My mind scrambles, replaying every interaction from the last twenty-four hours. He never said he wanted me back. Not outright. And it took him three months to show up here.
Of course, he doesn’t want me.
Christ, I’m an idiot.
Kade’s eyes land on me, and he visibly pales, like the air’s been punched from his lungs. But she smiles. Slow. Knowing. Almost amused. Like she already knows exactly who I am.
My mouth opens and closes. The room tilts, edges blurring, all the words I rehearsed evaporating like they were never there to begin with.
“Eden,” he murmurs, like he can’t quite believe I’m real.
I shake my head once, hard. “Sorry, I didn’t realise . . .” My voice trails off, thin and unsteady. Then, I panic. “Snacks,” Iblurt, hating myself instantly. His brow furrows. “I was just . . . out getting snacks. I was passing. But it’s nothing. It can wait.”
I’m already moving, already stepping past him, fingers closing around the door handle like it’s the only solid thing left in the world.
“Eden, wait.”
I don’t look back.
I lift a hand in a vague wave over my shoulder, fix my eyes straight ahead, and push out into the cold night air, lungs burning, heart shattering, pride in tatters, as the door shuts behind me.
I don’t stop walking until I reach the car.
My hands are shaking so badly it takes three tries to get the key into the ignition. The second it turns over, I pull away from the curb too fast, tyres screeching in protest as I take off down the road.
My chest feels like it’s collapsing in on itself as tears blur my vision, hot and relentless. I swipe at my face angrily, but they just keep coming—thick, choking sobs I can’t control.
In the rear-view mirror, I catch a flash of movement.
Kade.
He bursts out of the building, scanning the street wildly, and then his head snaps up, eyes locking onto my car just as I disappear around the corner.
My foot presses harder on the accelerator, even though my hands are trembling on the wheel. I don’t know where I’m going. I just needaway. Away from him. Away from her. Away from the way my heart just shattered all over again.
The road blurs. Streetlights smear into streaks of gold and white, and suddenly, I can’t see properly at all.
“Fuck,” I sob, my voice breaking.
I yank the wheel and pull over sharply a few streets down, barely managing to stop before my hands drop to the steering wheel and my forehead slams forward against it.
I break.
It rips out of me, half sob, half scream, as I beat my fists against the steering wheel over and over, the sound dull and violent in the small space.
“Idiot,” I cry. “You stupid fucking idiot.”
