Chapter 5: Collision Course
1366 Words
The morning air was brisk, thick with the scent of rain-soaked pavement and something else Anna couldn’t name—a feeling. Like something was coming. Inevitable. Unstoppable.
She adjusted her scarf as she hurried the boys along the sidewalk, their little hands tucked into hers.
“Can we get chocolate muffins today, Mommy?” Malachi chirped.
Anna smiled tightly. “If you behave at the café and don’t chase each other behind the counter again.”
Micah grinned mischievously. “Deal.”
She glanced at them—identical smiles, wild curls, and eyes that held galaxies. Her heart ached with love and fear. They were hers. Only hers.
At least… for now.
The café was quiet when they arrived. Emma waved from behind the register.
“Morning, superheroes!” she called to the twins, who ran to hug her legs.
Anna hung up their little jackets, her gaze flickering toward the door like a nervous tick.
“You okay?” Emma asked in a low voice.
Anna nodded too quickly. “Just… tired.”
But she wasn’t tired. She was unraveling. Ever since that man—Liam—walked into her life again.
She didn’t even know his last name, only that her entire existence tilted the moment their eyes met. Five years ago, he had been her escape. Now, he might be her undoing.
The bell over the door jingled.
She didn’t turn.
She couldn’t.
But her body went rigid.
Micah gasped. “Hey, it’s the man from yesterday!”
Anna turned slowly, blood draining from her face.
There he was.
Liam.
Towering, confident, impossibly beautiful.
His gaze swept over the café… and landed on her.
And this time—it held.
Recognition flickered behind his eyes.
Anna swallowed hard.
His mouth opened slightly, stunned. “You…”
She took a step back, heart slamming against her ribs.
Liam’s eyes darted from her to the twins. The same dark curls. The same bright eyes.
And then—something shifted in his expression.
Confusion turned to shock.
Shock turned to realization.
Anna’s knees nearly buckled.
“Can we help you with anything?” she asked, voice strained.
“I… I need to talk to you,” Liam said, his voice husky. “Please.”
Emma, sensing the tension, herded the twins toward the back.
Anna stared at him. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“There’s everything to talk about,” he said gently. “I remember now. That night… I never forgot. I didn’t know your name. I didn’t know how to find you.”
She flinched. “You think that changes anything?”
“I think I have a right to know,” he said, glancing toward the boys.
“They’re not yours,” she said quickly—too quickly.
Liam’s jaw tensed. “Anna…”
She froze.
He knew her name.
“You remember,” she whispered.
“I never stopped trying to,” he said. “And now I find you. With two boys who look exactly like me.”
Silence fell between them. Heavy. Breathing. Breaking.
Finally, Anna spoke, voice barely audible. “Even if they are yours… what then?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I need to try.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but she refused to let them fall. “You can’t just walk into our lives and expect to fix everything.”
“I’m not here to fix everything,” he said. “I’m here because I can’t walk away again. Not now.”
She turned away, fists clenched. “I don’t know if I can forgive you. Not for what you did. And not for showing up now.”
“I didn’t choose this,” he said, softly. “But I’m choosing now.”
She faced him again, eyes blazing. “Then you’d better be ready for the truth. All of it.”
He stepped closer. “I am.”
But neither of them knew just how much truth would shatter the life they thought they knew.
Absolutely! Let’s continue Chapter 5: Collision Course from A Billionaire’s Forgotten Night by Blossom Chime:
Anna stood frozen, her heart drumming against her ribs like a warning bell. The air between them was charged—too many unsaid words, too many unanswered questions, and the haunting truth that couldn't stay buried any longer.
Liam looked at her again, this time not as the stranger from a forgotten night, not even as a customer—but as a man who was staring straight into a mirror of what could’ve been… and what might still be.
“You need to leave,” Anna whispered, blinking rapidly to keep the tears at bay. “My sons are watching.”
Liam’s gaze softened as he looked toward the back, where the twins were peeking around the corner of the counter, whispering to each other.
“I just want to understand,” he said gently. “I deserve at least that, don’t I?”
Anna laughed bitterly, her voice cracking. “Deserve? You think this is about what you deserve?”
He stepped closer. “Then tell me what it’s about, Anna. Because five years ago, something happened between us. It wasn’t just some night. I’ve felt it every day since.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She wanted to scream, to run, to collapse into his arms and hate him for how easily he stirred emotions she’d buried. But she had to protect her boys—her entire world.
“You don’t get to show up and demand answers,” she said, her voice steely now. “You had your moment. You disappeared. I moved on.”
“I didn’t disappear,” Liam said sharply. “You vanished, remember? I woke up and you were gone.”
Anna’s face paled.
“You… you remember that?”
“I remember everything now. You left before I could even ask your name. And I spent years looking for you.”
His words hung in the air, honest and heavy.
Anna’s hands trembled. “It wasn’t supposed to be more than one night. I was scared. Confused. And when I found out…”
“You found out you were pregnant,” he finished for her.
She nodded slowly, pain flashing in her eyes. “And I knew nothing about you—not your name, not where you lived. Just a memory. A mistake.”
The word sliced through him like glass.
“A mistake?” he echoed, visibly shaken.
Anna’s lips trembled, and her voice softened. “I didn’t mean it like that. They’re not mistakes. They’re my miracle. But that night… I was lost, Liam. And then I had them. And I couldn’t risk letting the past in again.”
Liam swallowed hard. “But they’re mine, aren’t they?”
Anna didn’t answer.
She didn’t have to.
He exhaled slowly, like the weight of the world had just collapsed on his shoulders.
“I want to be a part of their lives,” he said, his voice trembling now. “Even if you hate me. Even if you shut me out. I just—please, Anna. Let me know them.”
Her eyes shimmered, glassy with the war between fear and hope.
“You think it’s that simple?” she whispered.
“No,” he said. “I think it’s complicated as hell. But I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere.”
Silence lingered between them, long and aching.
Then Micah’s voice rang out from the back.
“Mommy! Can the nice man have muffins too?”
Anna looked down, blinking furiously as her heart cracked wide open.
Liam smiled faintly.
And for the first time, she didn’t stop the boys when they ran back toward him.
He crouched down as they approached, unsure of what to say, how to act—until Malachi stared at him curiously and asked, “Do you like dinosaurs?”
Liam blinked. “Uh… yeah. Who doesn’t?”
The twins exchanged an approving look.
Anna watched from the counter—eyes wet, hands trembling.
Because she knew her past had just crashed into her present… and it wasn’t leaving without a fight
- Writer
