Chapter 7: The Night Everyone Chose a Side
For several seconds, I couldn’t understand the words Julian had just spoken.
“My mother.””
Two simple words.
But they opened a door I had spent four years trying to keep closed.
I stared at him.
“Your mother stopped you?””
Julian nodded slowly.
“She did.””
I looked at the photograph again.
There I was.
A younger version of myself.
Carrying one suitcase.
Walking away from the only home I thought I would ever have.
And behind me was Julian.
Running.
Not standing there watching me leave.
Not choosing his mother.
Running after me.
The truth should have made me feel better.
It didn’t.
Because a different question immediately appeared.
If Julian tried to come after me…
Why did he stop?
“What happened?””
Julian sat down.
For the first time, he looked afraid of the answer.
“I left the mansion about twenty minutes after you did.””
I stayed standing.
“Why?””
“Because I realized what I had done.””
His voice was quiet.
“I let her humiliate you. I stood there while you begged me to say something.””
His jaw tightened.
“I hated myself for it.””
I looked away.
“I hated you too.””
“I know.””
“I waited for you.””
His eyes lifted.
“I know.””
“No, Julian.””
My voice broke slightly.
“You don’t know.””
The room became silent.
“I sat in that apartment for hours waiting for you to knock on the door.””
I swallowed.
“I convinced myself you were just angry. That you needed time. That you would come back when you realized your mother was wrong.””
Julian closed his eyes.
“But you didn’t.””
“No.””
He looked down.
“I was too late.””
I shook my head.
“That’s not what happened.””
His expression changed.
“What?””
“You weren’t too late.””
I looked directly at him.
“You were stopped.””
Julian told me what happened.
After leaving the Prescott mansion, he had driven to my apartment.
He remembered the rain.
The empty streets.
The way his hands shook on the steering wheel.
He had planned everything he would say.
He would apologize.
He would tell me he was sorry.
He would tell me his mother didn’t get to decide our future.
But when he arrived, Vivian was already there.
“She was standing outside your building,” he said.
I froze.
“She knew where I lived?””
Julian nodded.
“She knew everything.””
My stomach tightened.
“She told me you didn’t want to see me.””
I laughed softly.
“That’s what she said?””
“Yes.””
“And you believed her?””
His eyes lowered.
“I was angry. Confused. Ashamed.””
The honesty hurt more than an excuse would have.
“She told me you blamed me.””
I looked away.
“And?””
“And she showed me a message.””
“What message?””
Julian reached for his phone.
He hesitated.
Then opened an old folder.
A screenshot appeared.
My breath caught.
It was a text conversation.
My name at the top.
Except I had never sent those messages.
*I don’t want Julian involved anymore.*
*I made a mistake. I don’t want this relationship.*
*Please tell him to stop contacting me.*
I stared at the screen.
“That isn’t me.””
“I know now.””
“Now?””
Julian looked devastated.
“I didn’t know then.””
I felt anger rising again.
“You knew me.””
“Yes.””
“You knew I would never say that.””
“I should have.””
The answer stopped me.
Because he didn’t defend himself.
He admitted it.
“I should have known.””
The next morning, I went to see Dr. Hayes.
I needed answers directly from the person who had helped create the lie.
His office was smaller than I remembered.
The walls had been repainted.
The furniture had changed.
But the feeling remained.
This was where my life had been rewritten.
Dr. Hayes stood when I entered.
“I’m glad you came.””
“I need to know everything.””
He nodded.
“I owe you that.””
I placed the photograph on his desk.
“Do you recognize this?””
His face changed.
“Yes.””
“Tell me.””
He looked uncomfortable.
“After Vivian came to my office, she returned two weeks later.””
“With Brooke?””
“Yes.””
I crossed my arms.
“What did they want?””
“Confirmation.””
“Of what?””
“That Julian had ended the relationship.””
My expression hardened.
“But he hadn’t.””
“No.””
Dr. Hayes looked down.
“They wanted documentation that would make it appear everything was already over.””
“Why?””
“Because Vivian knew Julian.””
I frowned.
“What does that mean?””
“She knew he would eventually regret hurting you.””
That sentence surprised me.
Dr. Hayes continued.
“She wasn’t trying to convince you to leave.””
He paused.
“She was trying to convince Julian that there was no way back.””
I felt cold.
Because that was exactly what happened.
Vivian hadn’t simply destroyed our relationship.
She had built a wall between us.
A wall made of fake evidence.
Fake messages.
Fake medical reports.
Fake choices.
“Brooke helped her.””
Dr. Hayes nodded.
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“I don’t know.””
I thought about Brooke.
Her tears.
Her confession.
Her fear.
Maybe she had been selfish.
Maybe she had been manipulated.
Maybe both were true.
When I returned home, Julian was waiting outside.
He looked exhausted.
“You talked to the doctor.””
I nodded.
“He told me everything.””
Julian looked down.
“I’m sorry.””
I studied him.
“You keep saying that.””
“Because I mean it.””
“Sorry doesn’t give me back four years.””
“I know.””
“It doesn’t give them back their birthdays.””
“I know.””
“It doesn’t erase the nights I cried because I didn’t understand how someone could promise forever and disappear.””
His face tightened.
“I know.””
For a moment, I saw tears in his eyes.
“I don’t expect forgiveness.””
That surprised me.
“You don’t?””
“No.””
He shook his head.
“I don’t deserve to demand that.””
The old Julian would have argued.
The old Julian would have tried to explain.
This Julian just accepted the damage.
“I want to know them,” he said.
I looked at him.
“Why?””
His answer came immediately.
“Because they are my children.””
No hesitation.
No fear.
Just certainty.
That mattered.
But it wasn’t enough.
Not yet.
Two days later, Julian asked to spend an afternoon with the children.
I agreed.
Not because I trusted him completely.
Because my children deserved the opportunity.
We went to a park near our apartment.
At first, Julian didn’t know what to do.
He stood awkwardly holding a juice box while Noah explained dinosaurs.
Emma showed him every flower she could find.
Lily asked him a hundred questions.
“Do you like pancakes?””
“Yes.””
“Do you make them?””
“I used to.””
“Are they good?””
Julian smiled.
“Not really.””
She laughed.
“Mommy says bad pancakes are still pancakes.””
I looked away.
Because I had forgotten he remembered that.
The tiny things.
The moments before everything broke.
For two hours, I watched him learn.
Not become a father.
That would take time.
But learn.
At the end of the afternoon, Noah handed him a drawing.
Julian looked at it.
“What is this?””
“Our family.””
The word hit him.
Family.
A word he had spent years believing he lost.
Julian looked at the picture.
Then he looked at me.
“I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this.””
“What?””
“I’m proud of you.””
I looked away.
“Why?””
“Because you did all of this.””
I didn’t answer.
Because hearing it from him was harder than I expected.
That night, another envelope arrived.
No return address.
No name.
Inside was a single piece of paper.
A photograph.
My hands went cold.
It was a picture of me leaving the Prescott mansion four years ago.
But this one was different.
It showed Vivian standing beside my car.
Talking to me.
And in her hand was a small envelope.
The same envelope Julian had supposedly sent.
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten sentence.
*“You were never abandoned by Julian. You were separated from him.””*
I turned the photograph over.
There was another line.
*“But Vivian wasn’t the only person who wanted you gone.””*
My heart raced.
At the bottom was a signature.
A name I hadn’t expected.
May you like
A name that made everything even more complicated.
*Richard Prescott.*
