Chapter 29 — The Recording
410 Words
Lucas held the small recording device in his hand.
Five years.
Five years of unanswered questions.
Five years of believing he lost Ella because of his own mistakes.
Now the truth was only a button away.
---
“Are you sure you want to hear it?” Clara asked softly.
Ella looked at Lucas.
Her heart was racing.
“Yes.”
She had spent five years wanting answers.
She couldn’t run from them now.
Lucas pressed play.
---
A voice filled the empty ballroom.
“Lucas, you need to understand. Ella is not good for your future.”
Ella froze.
She knew that voice.
His family.
Another voice answered.
“I love her.”
Lucas’s eyes widened.
Because it was his own voice.
His younger self.
“I’m not leaving her.”
---
The recording continued.
“She’s pregnant, Lucas. Do you understand what that means?”
Silence.
Then Lucas’s voice:
“Pregnant?”
Ella covered her mouth.
A tear fell.
He knew.
No.
He didn’t know.
He was finding out in that moment.
---
“I need to see her.”
The younger Lucas sounded desperate.
But another voice interrupted.
“You won’t.”
“Why?”
“Because if you choose her, you lose everything.”
---
The recording ended.
Silence filled the room.
Lucas stood completely still.
Because he finally heard the moment his life changed.
The moment someone took away his choice.
---
Ella looked at him.
“You really didn’t know.”
Lucas looked at her.
His eyes were full of regret.
“No.”
His voice broke.
“I swear to you, Ella. I never knew.”
She believed him.
And that scared her.
Because for five years, she hated him for something he never did.
---
Lucas turned to Clara.
“Who else heard this?”
Clara looked away.
“I don’t know.”
But her expression said otherwise.
“Clara.”
She sighed.
“One person.”
“Who?”
Clara whispered the name.
And both Lucas and Ella froze.
Because it was someone they trusted.
Someone who had been close to them the entire time.
---
Lucas looked at Ella.
“This isn’t over.”
She nodded.
“No.”
A pause.
“But this time…”
She held his hand.
“We face it together.”
For the first time in five years…
They weren’t fighting each other.
They were fighting for the same thing.
Their family.
Chapter 29 End.
- Writer
