Chapter 2
1377 Words
Bridget's POV
The first thing I noticed was the cars as I walked in, long, black, expensive cars lined up in front of Bryan’s school. Men in dark suits stood near the entrance gates, speaking quietly into earpieces.
My stomach pinched the moment I saw them.
Something was wrong.
Bryan’s school charity events were usually simple things like bake sales and handmade crafts, with parents chatting while children ran around with sticky fingers and paper crowns.
This looked like a corporate gala with kids.
I slowed my steps on the sidewalk, gripping Bryan’s small hand a little tighter than usual.
“Mom,” he said, looking up at me, “you’re squeezing my hands.”
I immediately loosened my hold.
“Sorry.”
He studied my face the way he always did when he sensed something was off. Bryan was only seven, but sometimes it felt like he could read every thought passing through my mind.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said quickly.
But I knew the word sounded like a lie. Because the moment I saw the large banner hanging above the school entrance, the ground seemed to tilt beneath my feet.
WEBBER GROUP ANNUAL EDUCATION CHARITY EVENT
The name burned into my eyes. For a second, I couldn’t breathe. No, that couldn’t be happening. Seven years. I had spent seven years carefully building a quiet life where that name didn’t exist, and now it was hanging over the entrance of my son’s school like fate laughing at me.
Bryan followed my gaze to the banner.
“Oh yeah,” he said casually. “That’s the big sponsor today.”
My heart pounded harder.
“You knew about this?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Teacher told us yesterday,” he replied. “Some famous business guy is coming.”
A cold wave slid down my spine.
I swallowed hard.
“What’s his name?” I asked carefully.
Bryan shrugged.
“I forgot.”
For a brief second, relief tried to creep in.
Maybe it wasn’t him.
Webber Group was huge. The company had hundreds of executives. It could be anyone.
It didn’t have to be who I thought it was
“Mom!” Bryan suddenly said, pointing toward the entrance excitedly. “Look!”
My eyes followed his finger. And my entire world stopped.
Walking through the school gates surrounded by security was a man I would recognize anywhere.
Tall, dark-haired, sharp suit perfectly fitted to his broad shoulders.
The same man who had once held my heart in his hands and shattered it without hesitation.
Noah Webber.
My chest felt like it had been crushed. For a moment, the sounds around me disappeared.
Children laughing, parents talking, music playing softly from speakers near the entrance,everything faded into a distant hum. Because all I could see was him.
Seven years hadn’t changed him as much as I expected. If anything, he looked even more powerful now, like the gentle man I once loved had been replaced by someone untouchable.
Bryan tugged my sleeve.
“Mom?”
I forced myself to look down at him.
“Yes?”
“You’re doing the face again.”
“What face?” I asked.
“The scared one.”
My heart twisted painfully.
I ducked in front of him quickly, brushing my hand through his hair to keep myself grounded.
“I’m not scared,” I whispered, but even those words sounded weak to my own ears.
Bryan tilted his head slightly.
“Then why do you look like you saw a ghost?”
Because I had! I stood up quickly.
“We should go home,” I said suddenly.
Bryan blinked. “What? Why?”
“I just remembered I have something important to do.” His eyebrows pulled together in confusion.
“But Mom, I’m part of the math challenge today.”
The words hit me like a brick.
Bryan had spent the whole week excited about that competition. I looked back toward the school gates again.
Noah was already speaking to the principal, cameras flashing around him. There were too many people here, but maybe he wouldn’t notice us, maybe…
“Bryan!” A teacher waved from across the yard. “Come join the activity table! We’re starting!”
Bryan’s face lit up immediately.
“Can I go?”
My chest tightened painfully, every instinct inside me screamed to grab his hand and run, but the hopeful look in his eyes stopped me; this was his day, not mine.
I forced a smile.
“Go ahead.”
Bryan grinned and ran across the yard toward the activity tables where several children were gathered around puzzles and math games. I stayed near the edge of the courtyard, my entire body tense.
Just stay calm,just stay quiet. I told myself
A burst of applause suddenly erupted from the tables.
I looked up almost immediately.
Bryan stood at the center of the group holding a puzzle board. The teacher laughed in amazement.
“You solved that already?”
Bryan shrugged casually. “It wasn’t hard.”
The adults nearby chuckled. Then one of them said something that made my stomach drop.
“Maybe he should explain it to our guest.”
I followed the direction of her gesture, straight toward Noah. My breath caught in my throat.
He walked toward the table slowly, curiosity written across his face. Bryan didn’t seem intimidated at all. He simply looked up at the tall stranger standing in front of him.
Noah crouched slightly so they were eye level.
“What’s your name?” he asked as I read his lips.
“Bryan,” my son replied confidently.
Noah nodded.
“Bryan, what?”
“Bryan Wins.”
The moment the name left his mouth, something changed in Noah’s expression; it was subtle, barely noticeable,but I saw it.
His eyes lingered on Bryan’s face a second longer than normal, studying and analyzing him.
Then Bryan picked up the puzzle again and began explaining his solution.
“You just have to think about patterns,” he said.
“And if you lower the price and sell more, the company makes more money.”
The words hung in the air. Noah went completely still, because that wasn’t a child’s answer. It was a business strategy.
Slowly, his gaze returned to Bryan’s face; this time, he looked closer to the boy’s dark eyes and stubborn set of his jaw and the familiar way he tilted his head when thinking.
My heart slammed violently against my ribs. I prayed he shouldn’t see it.
Then Bryan laughed at something the teacher said, and the sound carried across the courtyard straight to Noah. His eyes flickered again.
Then, slowly, he stood up, turned his head, looked directly across the courtyard, and then at me.
Our eyes met.
The shock on his face was immediate.
Seven years of distance collapsed in a single heartbeat, my pulse roared in my ears because I knew he knew, maybe not everything. But enough.
I turned quickly, grabbing my purse.
We had to leave now.
I started walking toward Bryan, but before I could reach him, a deep voice stopped me cold.
“Bridget.”
I froze. I hadn’t heard my name in that voice for seven years. Slowly, I turned around. Noah was walking toward me now.
Each step deliberately closes the distance between the past and the life I had built without him.
When he stopped in front of me, the air between us felt electric with unfinished history, and for a little more than two minutes, he said nothing. His eyes searched my face, as if he were trying to confirm I was real, then his gaze drifted past me toward the boy, still laughing at the puzzle table.
When he spoke again, his voice was quiet, but it carried the weight of a question that could destroy everything.
“How old is he?”
My heart stopped because Bryan was seven, exactly seven, the same number of years since the night Noah Webber walked out of my life, and the look in Noah’s eyes told me something terrifying. He had already started doing the math.
- Writer
