A Name From The Past
Caden
I read the message over Aria’s shoulder and felt something in my chest go very cold.
Elena.
I hadn’t heard that name out loud in fourteen years. I’d built an entire life around the fact that I would never have to hear it again — buried it under work, under Diane, under every wall I’d constructed since the marriage ended in a way that I’d promised myself I would never explain to anyone, ever, including the woman currently sitting in my study holding a phone with my past on it.
“Caden.” Aria’s voice was very quiet. “You were married before.”
“Yes.”
“You never mentioned—”
“No.” I sat down heavily in the chair across from her. “I didn’t.”
She looked at me. Not accusatory. Just waiting, the way she did, giving me room to arrive at whatever I needed to say wit
