Chapter 77
“Austin, you have to Egurr something out” Alina cried, clutching his arm tightly. “Thorhe needs her mother. She’s just a little girl. How can she go through this alone?
“Austin, what are you still hesitating for Marilyn chimed in “Told you already, it’s just a tactic. No one intends to send Courtney to jail–she’s
stubborn, refusing to cooperate
Austin was completely rigid, clenching his fists tightly.
From the hospital bed. Phoebe’s small, frightened voice broke the tense silence. “Daddy Daddy, I’m scared.”
And just like that, every ounce of his resolve crumbled. His daughter’s voice sounded like a hammer, shartering what little strength he had left
Austin moved to the bedside and gently cooped Phoebe into his arms. “Okay he whispered, his voice hoarse and broken. “I’ll figure it out. I’ll make sure Courney agrees to sign the settlement
A cold, triumphant smile curled on Marilyn’s lips
If only Austin had done this earlier, Phoebe wouldn’t have suffered like this. His ridiculous persistence had only made things worse.
Holding Phoebe tightly. Austin shot his eyes, his face etched with exhaustion and defeat At that moment, the weight of his decision bore down on him. Once again, the scales tipped in favor of his daughter.
After five years, love had become a burden for Austin–tainted and full of compromise.
At Courtney’s apartment, the silence was heavy after Austin left. Courtney stood for a long time, unable to shake the ache in her chest,
Sometimes, the pain didn’t come from never having something–it canse from losing what you once had.
Courtney and Austin had a love that others envied. People admired them and called them the perfect couple.
Courtney moved to the dining table, staring at the cold spaghetti plate. Her thoughts wandered to Hayden’s expression when he left earber–his ryes had looked so hurt.
She picked up her phone, debating whether to send him a message, but a notification popped up before she could.
Hayden- [Open the door]
Courtney thought, ‘Has he been here all along?”
She rushed to the door and pulled it open. Hayden was leaning against the doorframe across the hall. The air around him was heavy with tension.
Courtney blinked in surprise. When Hayden mentioned earlier that he was her neighbor, she thought he was joking. Now, it seemed he’d been telling the truth.
“You really live across from me?” she signed, her expression incredulous,
“Tented,” Hayden casually explained, sounding quite jealous. “Have you had dinner!”
Courtney felt a bat guilty, nervously signing, “It got cold”
Hayden raised an eyebrow, his sharp, handsome features tinged with trasing. “It’s cold? Well, go hungry then. Let that cheating husband of yours cook for you”
To his dismay, Courtney didn’t. Taking his behavior at face value, she quietly closed the door instead.
Left standing in the hallway, Hayden’s expression froze in disbelief. His jaw clenched, and a corner of his mouth twitched in irritation
“Courtney” he yelled, storming back to her door, slamming his palm against it with enough force to rattle the frame. “Do you even have a conscience?
When Courtney opened the door again, she found him towering in the doorway, his height so imposing it seemed like his head could touch the top of the frame
“Courney,” he growled, “my dinner’s on your table too?
Courtney stepped aside, silently letting him in
“What did that jerk say to you?” Hayden asked the moment he was inside. “Did he feed you some line of nonsense and trick you again?
1/2
Chapter 77
He worried that Austin might trick Courtney,
Courtney saved quiet.
“That kind of man! And you’re still hoping for some fairytale life with him” Hayden’s tone sharpened.
His gaze caught on a few bags by the door–Courtney’s belongings, neatly packed. His brows furrowed. “Are you planning to leave with him?”
Courtney shook her head, trying to explain, but Hayden had already cornered her against the wall
“Courtney,” he said, looking very upset. “Are you going to wait until he tears you apart and sells you for scraps before you realize your mistake!”
Jealousy and anger had been simmering inside him for hours since he’d stood outside her door, eavesdropping on her conversation with Austin. The sight of Austin leaving had been his only relief, and now this!
Courtney found Hayden’s behavior unterly unreasonable. “Even if I have nothing to do with Austin, I wouldn’t have anything to do with you either. So please… leave”
Courtney wanted Hayden to leave as well. She just needed some peace.
Hayden grabbed her wrists and pinned them firmly against the wall above her head.
Courtney struggled, but he was far too strong
“You want me to leave?” Hayden said, his deep voice laced with determination. Then don’t sign it. Say it out loud”
Courtney’s therapist said Courtney needed the right kind of push to start speaking again. Her silence wasn’t entirely physical–it was a wound buried deep inside her that needed to be drawn out.
“If you won’t say it.” Hayden murmured, leaning closer, his height and presence utterly overwhelming. “Tll take your silence as permission.” Courney tried to pull away, her heart racing as Hayden’s commanding presence closed on her. Whenever he came too close, an unexplainable panic would rise within her.
It wasn’t just his imposing demeanor–it was something deeper that dragged her mind back to the five harrowing years she had Weidan.
spent in South
Those years weren’t just filled with war, life–and–death situations, and endless separations. They also carried her complicated and inexplicable fear of Hayden–a fear mixed with an aching sense of detachment.
Courtney could never understand why she was so afraid of Hayden. Although he appeared intimidating, he always stood up for her.
Before she knew Hayden was an undercover operative, she thought her fear was instinctual, primal–like a mouse fearing a cat or prey fearing a predator. She feared him because, in her mind, he was a terrorist, a dangerous man in a dangerous world.
But even
now, knowing the truth, that fear hadn’t gone away.
It’s a fear from the depths of her soul
Courtney’s breath hitched as she realized it. She wasn’t afraid of Hayden’s presence or intensity–she was terrified of what he represented. She was afraid of the possibility that her five years of love, loyalty, and faithfulness were all for nothing. She feared falling for him, feared betraying the image of the wife she had tried so hard to uphold
Most of all, she feared becoming the villain in her own story–the unfaithful one in a marriage she had tried to protect at all
at all costs
For five years, Courtney had clung to the belief that as long as she guarded her heart and body and stayed true to her moral principles, she was still honoring her marriage to Austin,
But reality had turned her convictions into a cruel joke. Because the first to betray, the first to stray, wasn’t her.
It was Austin
