Page 30 of My Girl to Ruin

“It means the conviction can be vacated,” he finishes.

Silence falls. It’s heavy as I process what I just heard. Hope and fear, all of it collide at once. I swallow hard, my mind trying to catch up with what he’s saying. What this could mean. And how everything could change.

“That’s… good,” I say finally.

Because it is good. It’s more than good. It’s everything we never thought we’d get. But that’s not all I want from Lachlan.

I look at him again, really look. At the tension still in his shoulders, at the way his hands flex like he’s holding something back.

“Is that all?” I ask.

The question hangs there. Because if that’s the only reason he came, then nothing has changed.

He doesn’t answer right away. And that hesitation, although it hurts, tells me everything.

“Okay,” I say quietly, stepping back, creating distance between us. “Then you should go.”

His head lifts sharply. “Tatum—”

“You came, you told me, thank you,” I cut in, forcing the words out before I start feeling them too deeply. “Now you can stop blaming yourself. But there’s nothing else here.”

His body tenses. I watch the conflict move through him. But I can’t do this again.

“Please leave,” I add, softer this time, because if he stays any longer, I might break all over again.

He doesn’t move. “Tatum,” he pleads.

I shake my head, taking another step back. My fingers curl into fists like I need something to hold. “Don’t,” I whisper. “Please don’t make this harder than it already is.”

“It’s already hard,” he says, and the honesty in his voice wrecks me.

I look away because, if I keep looking, I might fold. I might forget everything I told myself this past week just to get through each day.

“You said enough already,” I add quietly. “I understand now.”

“You don’t.” The certainty in his voice pulls my eyes back to him. “You think this was an obligation?” he continues, taking a step forward. “You think I ignored you for four years because I didn’t feel anything?”

Relief hits first. What comes after it is uglier, and it comes fast—he’s free now. Free men don’t need anyone.

“I stayed away because I felt too much,” he says, his voice rawer than I’ve ever heard it. “Because every time I looked at you, all I could see was what I took from you. I couldn’t stand in front of you and pretend I deserved to be anywhere near you.”

My heart stutters at the words, at the way he’s looking at me now, like everything he’s been holding back is finally breaking through.

“That’s why you wouldn’t see me?” I ask softly.

He nods once. “Yeah.”

I stare at him. “You didn’t let me decide that,” I say after a moment. “You didn’t let me choose whether you were worth having in my life.”

“I know,” he admits, his gaze dropping briefly before coming back to mine. “I was wrong.”

The words nearly bring me to my knees. Because Lachlan doesn’t say things like that.

“And when you came back,” he continues, his voice growing raspier, “I tried to keep it the same. Tried to keep you at a distance.”

A small, shaky breath leaves me. “I know.”

“You made it impossible.” Something that’s almost a broken laugh gets out of him. “Not by pushing. That’s what I couldn’t get past. After that night in this room, you never asked me for one thing. You just kept turning up and leaving it to me.” He shakes his head slowly. “And you kept looking at me like I wasn’t what I know I am. That was the part I couldn’t hold out against.”