The CEO's Regret: His Lost Wife's Secret Twins novel Chapter 43

Chapter 43

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Appropriate housing. Relocated.

“You really don’t understand, do you?” My hands balled into fists. “To you, it’s just another transaction. Another problem to solve with

money. But that place-

I didn’t say it was everything to me. What would be the point? It would only invite harsher mockery.

“I brought you there just recently. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I shoved them in my coat pockets. “You asked about every corner. Every sketch on the wall. You sat on my bed and said-

“Aria.”

“Don’t.” I stepped back. “Don’t say my name in that tone. Not after this.”

He moved closer. I hated how my body wanted to lean toward him instead of away.

“The structure’s unsafe,” he said. “The foundation is crumbling. It should have been condemned years ago.”

“Condemned.” I laughed. It sounded wrong, hollow in my own ears. “Funny how it was fine until Emma needed something.”

“This isn’t about Emma.”

“Everything is about Emma!” The words ripped out of me. “She mentions wanting a studio, and suddenly my childhood home is a safety hazard that needs immediate demolition?”

Blake’s jaw tightened. Good. Let him be uncomfortable for once.

“You’re being irrational.”

“I’m being irrational?” My voice climbed higher. I didn’t care anymore. Didn’t care who heard. ‘You saw where I learned to read. Where my father taught me to draw. Where I practiced my first dance steps. You touched my sketches. You asked about the quilt I made. You said-

I stopped. My throat closed up.

He’d said I was stronger than I looked.

I thought he’d meant it as a compliment. Now I wondered if he’d been taking inventory. Cataloging the Grant family’s assets before the

wrecking ball came.

“What did you think?’ I forced the words out. “When you walked through those rooms? When you saw the photos on my wall?”

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Chapter 43

Blake said nothing.

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‘Did you already know Emma wanted that space?” I took another step back. My heel caught on the curb. I stumbled. Caught myself. “Were you just checking what needed to be cleared out?”

“Stop.”

Answer me.”

“You’re twisting this into something it’s not.”

“Then tell me what it is!” My hands came out of my pockets. “Tell me you didn’t stand in my room, looking at my life, already planning to

bulldoze it for her.”

His silence told me everything.

Something broke inside my chest. Not my heart-that had broken too many times already. This was different. This was the last piece of hope I’d been clinging to without realizing it.

The hope that maybe, just once, he’d seen me as more than an obstacle to remove.

“I showed you everything,” I said quietly. The words hurt coming out. “The drawings on the wall. The bookshelf I built myself with wood from Richard’s workshop. The corner where I used to practice until my feet bled. The quilt I sewed when I was twelve because Christine wouldn’t buy me a new one and the house was so cold in winter.”

Blake’s expression flickered. Just for a second. Then the mask came back.

“I was proud,” I continued. My voice cracked. “Proud to show you where I came from. Proud that you seemed interested. That you asked questions. That you touched things gently, as if they mattered. But you were just-

“I wasn’t just anything.” His voice came out rough. “I wanted to see it. I wanted to understand-

“Understand what? How easy it would be to replace?’ I wrapped my arms around myself. The night air cut through my coat. “You remember those photos on my wall? The ones of me dancing?”

He nodded slowly.

‘I spent years trying to be good enough. Trying to move the way Emma does. Trying to have what she has. I met his eyes. Held them. “You saw those photos. You saw me trying. And now you’re going to tear down the only place where I ever felt-

I couldn’t finish. Couldn’t say home.

Because that would make me cry, and I was done crying over Blake.

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Chapter 43

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‘Emma’s a professional, Blake said. Each word measured. Careful. “You know that. Her dancing isn’t just a hobby. It’s her career. She

needs proper facilities.”

There it was. The comparison I’d been waiting for.

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