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23. The Cracks Deepen

Author: Teddy
last update Last Updated: 2025-01-27 23:15:30

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Cracks Deepen

Sofia sat alone in the dim glow of her bedroom hours after Aaron left, the silence pressing heavily against her chest.

The ache wouldn’t go away.

His voice. His words.

“I’m not going anywhere this time.”

For six years, she had convinced herself that Aaron Kingston was nothing but a ghost of her past. A man who had abandoned her when she was at her most vulnerable.

But now?

Now he was everywhere.

In her home.

In her children’s hearts.

And worst of all, back in her mind.

Her fingers brushed the edge of the ultrasound photo tucked away in her bedside drawer—the last reminder of the child they had lost. The child he never got to meet.

You can’t trust him.

But hadn’t he proven her wrong tonight?

The way he had comforted Liam, spoken so gently to Aria… it wasn’t an act.

And it was terrifying her.

Because if Aaron was capable of being a good father—

What did that mean for the walls she had built?

A soft knock at the door interrupted her spiraling thoug
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