across the street from Bennett Café, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles had turned white. His heart hadn't st

ind because he had looked. The moment Ethan left, he had opened the old family album locked inside

e that had always gotten him out of trouble. Staring at the photograph had felt like staring at Noah. The resemblan

ugh him at once. Hope, fear, anger, confusion, and regret tangled together until he could barely se

erything. The first steps, the first words, the birthdays and bedtime stories, the scraped knees, the nightmares, the moments when

into his thoughts. While he had been busy building companies, chasing success, and convincing himself he had moved on, the life he had once dreamed about might have happened without him, without his knowle

she saw Liam, she knew. The expression on his face told her every

were no greetings, no small talk, and no attempt to pretend everything was normal. There

ed to

, but she forced hersel

narrowe

t h

n wh

... no

tention, the pressure, and most of all the fact that this moment had finally arrived. Because

s fighting to regain control of emotions threatening to break fr

in

all child was at his normal table, intensely interested in building a spaceship out of brilliant coloured blocks. His small hands moved wi

dness of his features. There was something, something almost vulnerable in the way he looked at Noah, something she hadn't expected to witness.

and unwavering. His voice dropped, low and da

Tell

questions, and questions led to answers she had spent years avoiding. She wasn't ready to face the possibility taking shape betwee

ted the way it made her chest tighten. For a moment, he simply looked at her, his jaw tense an

d far too hot. Ava gripped the edge of the counter, her fingers tightening against the wood as she struggled to steady herself. He

va

can

e and control that had always seemed to surround him. He looked like a man standing at the edge of a cliff, terrified of the answer waiting below an

eas

ht her comple

tion he found himself in. Throughout the years she had known him, confidence had always seemed as natural to him as breathing. Yet here he wa

ibilities. This was something deeper, something that lodged in her bones and weighed on her chest till it was hard to breathe. All of a sudden, it seemed

convinced herself they were the right ones. Five years of defending her son, even if it meant that she had to take the brunt alone. Five years of

ignore. There was no place else to escape, no excuse to hide behind, no way to postpone the inevita

spaceship and wandered over to them, his small face bright with a smile that was completely open, happy, and trusting. The sight of him m

H

, as though the reaction was completely beyond his control. The tension in

, N

in widened.

stioning certainty, as though Liam had always belonged there, as though his presence wasn't unexpected

Noah's first five years. Not because he hadn't wanted to be, but because he hadn't known. The realization settl

never leaving the little boy st

with pride. "I kn

w tears threatening behind his eyes. They hadn't fallen yet, but they were close. Very close. T

Noah. Not in front of her customers. Not while her son stood s

rom behind the counter. "Can you w

iately sensing the tension in the

ound them, conversations continued and cups clinked against saucers, but those sounds felt distant, drowned out by the tension neither of them knew how

ll t

ce, immediate and unmistakable. It was a powerful reaction, one he seemed u

ka

t h

ka

. "Where are

smile. "Adult

diately pulled a dr

n expecting. It was so trivial, so mundane, and yet it had conjured memories neither of them had expected. For one inconceivable second it felt like five years ago, before the heartache and the separ

onversation she had spent five years avoiding was finally about to happen, a

the door, Noah's voice sud

. L

hem turne

for the moment. His bright eyes moved between them before he offered

make Mo

nded with st

moment what to say. The simple statement hung between them, heavier than a toddler should have understood. Noah seemed astonished, even after he said it, his brows knitting tog

he espresso machine faded into the background beneath the crushing weight of Noah's words. Liam could barely hear anything beyond the po

estion. Every mistake. Every choice. The weight of them pressed down on him until it became dif

oner or later, Noah would begin asking them too. Children were naturally curious, and Noah was no exception. One day, he would want answers about who he was, where he came from, and why certain pieces of his life had been l