chapter seven:The secrets between us
1514 Words
The warm scent of cinnamon and bread dough filled the bakery, but Anna couldn’t taste or smell anything properly. Her mind was spinning ever since Liam Carter—Liam Carter—had walked into her life again. And now… he was spending time with her boys. Her boys.
She stood behind the counter, hands kneading the dough, but her eyes kept drifting to the table near the window where Liam sat with the twins, helping them color superhero masks with a patience that didn’t match his billionaire persona. The sight tugged something deep inside her.
It felt... safe. Natural. Dangerous.
“Mommy! Look what Uncle Liam helped me make!” Noah ran up with a crooked red mask, his eyes beaming.
Anna knelt to his level. “That’s amazing, sweetheart.”
Liam walked over slowly, his tall frame casting a long shadow across the floor. “He’s got quite the imagination,” he said with a smile. “And Liam Jr. insists he’s going to be a real superhero when he grows up.”
Anna nodded, struggling to hide the war in her heart. “They’ve always been dreamers.”
“Like their mother, I suppose,” Liam said softly, then hesitated. “Can I talk to you outside for a moment?”
Anna glanced around. Faith had just arrived for her shift. “Okay. Just five minutes.”
Outside, the cool breeze teased her hair, and the sound of early evening traffic filled the background. She folded her arms, unsure of what Liam wanted to say.
“I need to ask you something,” he said, voice low. “And I want the truth, Anna.”
Her stomach tightened. “Go ahead.”
“That night… four years ago.” He paused, eyes searching hers. “Was it you?”
Anna’s breath hitched. It was a question she’d been dreading—and expecting.
“Yes,” she whispered, staring straight at him. “It was me.”
Liam took a step back, his hand running through his hair. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t even know who you were,” Anna replied, her voice trembling. “You never gave me your real name. You were just ‘Leo.’ A stranger. And when I found out I was pregnant, I had no way to find you.”
He paced for a moment. “You could have tried.”
“Tried what, Liam? Do you know how ridiculous it sounds? ‘Hi, I had a one-night stand with a man named Leo at a stranger’s party. I’m pregnant, and I think he might be a billionaire’?” Her eyes burned with unshed tears.
Silence hung between them like a wall.
He finally said, “They’re mine, aren’t they? The boys.”
“Yes.” Her voice cracked.
Another pause.
Liam turned away, hands clenched at his sides. “I missed four years of their lives…”
“I know,” she said softly. “But so did I. I missed sleep, missed having help. Missed having someone to carry the burden with me.”
He looked at her then—not as a CEO or a billionaire, but as a man who had lost something he didn’t know he had.
“I want to be in their lives,” he said. “I want to know them, love them, protect them. Not as ‘Uncle Liam.’ As their father.”
Anna looked away, blinking fast. “That’s not a decision you make in one afternoon.”
“I’m not asking for everything at once,” he replied. “But let me be there. Let me start.”
She nodded once, slowly. “We’ll take it one step at a time.”
The air between them softened, the tension slightly less sharp, but still present. Anna exhaled deeply, her fingers twitching at her sides. Liam stepped a bit closer, not in dominance, but with a quiet plea in his eyes.
“I know I’ve missed a lot,” he said. “But I want to catch up. I want to learn who they are, what they like, what scares them. I want to be the kind of father they can count on.”
Anna swallowed hard, her throat dry. “It won’t be easy. They’ve never asked about their father. I never lied—I told them he wasn’t around, that he didn’t know about them. But they’re smart, Liam. If you’re going to step into this, you have to be ready for questions.”
“I’ll answer every one,” he promised. “Honestly. Age-appropriate, of course.” His eyes softened. “What about you, Anna? Where do we stand?”
Her heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t let herself think that far. Their one night had been unplanned, intense, but brief. Yet in the years that followed, she’d often dreamed of his face, wondered if he ever thought about her too. And now here he was. Real. Present. Asking questions that threatened the walls she’d built around her heart.
“I don’t know,” she said truthfully. “I’ve spent so long surviving, Liam. I didn’t have time for romance. For healing. Everything I had, I poured into the boys.”
“I’m not asking you to love me overnight,” he said gently. “But maybe… maybe we could start over. As friends. As co-parents. Maybe more—if the feeling ever returns.”
Anna didn’t speak. Instead, she looked at him—really looked. Beneath the expensive clothes and watch, he wasn’t the cold businessman she’d assumed. He was a man who had just discovered he had sons. A man who was trying.
“Let’s take it one day at a time,” she finally said. “For the boys.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “One day at a time sounds perfect.”
As they stepped back inside, the boys ran up to them—Noah with a crooked cape, Liam Jr. wearing his colored mask.
“Uncle Liam, look! I’m a hero!”
Anna and Liam shared a look, unspoken understanding passing between them.
“You are, buddy,” Liam said, lifting him high in the air. “You’re my hero.”
And for the first time in a long while, Anna allowed herself to hope.
The silence between them stretched, comfortable now, like the kind shared between people who’ve seen each other at their worst and still choose to stay. Liam leaned back on the couch, his gaze fixed on the ceiling.
“I keep thinking,” he said after a long pause, “about that night.”
Anna’s body stiffened.
He turned his head to look at her. “Not for the obvious reasons. But because it’s the only thing I remember from that week. Everything else is blurry—meetings, flights, deals—but that night... it’s vivid. You laughing in the rain, the smell of that tiny roadside café where we hid from the storm…”
She smiled despite herself. “You kept insisting on carrying me, even though I could walk perfectly fine.”
“You had heels on,” he said, smirking. “I was being chivalrous.”
“You were being drunk.”
“True,” he admitted with a chuckle. “But I remember every minute.”
Anna’s smile faded a little. “Then why didn’t you come for me after?”
“I woke up with no number, no name… just a headache and a suite that felt emptier than it had the night before. I thought I imagined you.”
She turned to him fully now. “And I thought you forgot me.”
They stared at each other, the past stretching like a thread between them—frayed, but not broken.
Then Liam leaned forward, his voice quiet. “If I could go back…”
“You can’t,” Anna said gently but firmly. “But you can be here now.”
His eyes searched hers. “Will you ever forgive me?”
“I’m trying,” she whispered. “For them… and maybe for myself.”
Suddenly, a small voice called out from the hallway, “Mommy?”
They both turned as Noah appeared, rubbing his eyes. “Can’t sleep.”
Liam stood quickly. “Want me to read you a story?”
Noah blinked up at him. “You read funny voices?”
“I do dinosaur roars, pirate growls, and robot beeps.”
The boy’s face lit up. “Okay!”
Anna watched from the doorway as Liam scooped Noah up and carried him down the hall, his voice already launching into a deep, goofy growl. Her heart ached with something that felt like a mix of fear and hope.
This man—this billionaire—had turned out to be more than just the man from her past. He was stepping into the shoes of a father, one bedtime story at a time.
Maybe, just maybe… the forgotten night wasn’t the end of something.
It was the beginning.
- Writer
