“I saw the way you were looking at him.”
I cross my arms. “At who?”
“Don’t play dumb, Kairo.” His voice drops to a hiss. “Kuraken.”
I flinch. He knows Jav’s name. Of course he does. It was in the news cycles for weeks when he got out.
“Maliek—”
“No. Listen. I have stood by while you ghosted me emotionally, made excuses, brushed off talks about the future—our future. I tried to be patient, for Ben’s sake. I wanted to believe we were a family.”
Guilt crashes through me like a tide. I glance at the closed doors of the multi-purpose room, where my son is probably still laughing, oblivious.
“We are… just not the way you want.”
His jaw tightens. “Do you even love me?”
The question is a knife. I stare at him, unable to lie. Not this time. Not anymore.
He sees the truth in my silence.
“You never did,” he mutters, stepping back. “You were just waiting for him.”
“Maliek—Ben isn’t your son.”
The words tumble out, louder than I expect, jagged and sharp.
His face goes blank. White.
I swallow hard. “I should’ve told you earlier. I let you believe—because it was easier than facing all this. But… he’s not yours.”
His lips part, but no sound comes. Then he shakes his head, turns, and walks away.
And I let him.
That night,I sit on the edge of my bed with the first book in my series open in my lap.
The pages are worn, highlighted in different colors from a dozen edits. My name glows on the cover like someone else’s identity.
The Crimson Affair.
There’s a scene midway through the book—a quiet moment between the heroine and the grolgath antihero—where they lie beneath the stars in a stolen shuttle, breathing in sync. She tells him she doesn’t care who he’s been. He tells her he’s never had someone see him like she does.
I read the lines out loud. My voice shakes.
Then I cry.
Big, ugly sobs.
Because I know the truth. I never stopped loving him. Not the legend. Not the criminal. Buthim. The man who spins in snack wrapper cloaks and makes my son laugh like the universe isn’t broken.
And I’m tired of lying.
Even to myself.
CHAPTER 14
JAV
