Kai's POV
I'm ambushed in the parking garage.
One second I'm walking to my car, exhausted from a day of pretending Ethan's gifts don't exist. The next second, a young woman steps directly into my path, blocking me.
"Kai? Kai Rivers?"
I stop walking and my keys dig into my palm as my hand tightens around them. After three days of Ethan's relentless campaign, I'm done being nice.
"Who's asking?" My voice comes out harder than I intended.
"I'm Sophie. Sophie Cross." She holds up both hands like I'm a wild animal about to bolt. "Ethan's little sister. Please don't run. I just need five minutes. Please."
Sophie. I remember her now—a skinny sixteen-year-old who used to smile at me in the hallways when everyone else pretended I didn't exist. She'd been kind when kindness was rare.
But that was five years ago, and kindness from a Cross doesn't mean much anymore.
"I don't have anything to say to anyone related to Ethan," I say, moving to step around her.
She moves with me, blocking my path again. "He looked for you for five years."
I laugh. It sounds bitter even to my own ears. "Sure he did."
"Every single day, Kai." Sophie's eyes fill with tears. Real tears, not the fake kind people use for manipulation. "He hired private investigators. Spent hundreds of thousands of dollars searching. He refused to marry anyone else even when our father threatened to disown him. He took over the entire company just so Dad couldn't control his choices anymore. He never stopped loving you."
The words hit me like punches. "Stop."
"It's true! Kai, please, just listen—"
"No!" My voice echoes in the concrete garage. "I don't care what story he told you. I don't care what excuses he made. Your brother destroyed me in front of five hundred people for no reason!"
"There was a reason!" Sophie's voice breaks. "Our father—"
"I don't want to hear it!"
"He threatened to destroy your family!" Sophie shouts, and her words freeze me in place. "Dad found out about you and Ethan. He told Ethan he had one hour to break up with you publicly and cruelly, or he'd bankrupt your parents' pharmacy and make sure you never worked in pharmaceuticals anywhere. Ever."
The parking garage spins around me. "What?"
Sophie's tears spill over. "Dad said he'd ruin your entire family. Make your parents lose everything they built. Make sure no university would accept you. Ethan was twenty-three and stupid and terrified. He thought—" Her voice cracks. "He thought he was protecting you."
I can't breathe. "That's not—he never said—"
"Because Dad threatened him! Said if Ethan ever told you the truth, he'd destroy your family anyway." Sophie pulls out her phone with shaking hands. "Look. Please just look."
She shows me her screen. Bank statements. Transfers of money to Rivers Pharmacy. Thousands of dollars. Dozens of transfers over five years.
"Ethan's been sending anonymous payments to keep your parents' business running," Sophie says. "Every time they had a slow month or an unexpected expense. He made sure they never struggled."
My hands shake as she scrolls through more documents. Private investigator reports with my old addresses. Silverpine City. The tiny apartment I lived in when I was pregnant. The hospital where the twins were born. Photos of me from a distance, always alone, always looking tired.
"He's been looking for you since the day you disappeared," Sophie whispers. "He forced Dad into early retirement two years ago so Dad couldn't hurt anyone else. He changed the entire company culture—better omega rights, better benefits, funding research for omega health. Everything he thought would make you proud if you ever came back."
I can't process this. It's too much. "Why didn't he just tell me? Why didn't he fight back?"
"Because he was young and scared and Dad convinced him it was the only way to protect you. By the time Ethan realized it was the wrong choice, you were gone. Completely vanished." Sophie grabs my arm. "Kai, he's been dying inside for five years. I've watched my brother become a shell of himself, searching for you, refusing to move on, hoping—"
"Stop," I whisper. "Please stop."
But Sophie pulls up more photos on her phone. Screenshots of the Instagram account I made for the twins. Every single post saved. River's beetle pictures. Luna's drawings. Comments from E.C. that I never saw because I never accepted his follow request:
"He has your eyes."
"She draws like she sees magic in everything."
"They're beautiful. You did this without me. You're amazing."
Dozens of comments. Months of them. All unsent because I never let him in.
"He doesn't even know for sure they're his," Sophie says softly. "But he's been buying children's books and toys for months. Learning about four-year-olds. Reading parenting books. Just hoping that maybe, someday, you'd give him a chance to be their father."
My vision blurs. I'm either going to cry or pass out. Maybe both.
"Those kids at the airport," Sophie continues gently. "They're his, aren't they? Luna has his eyes. His mother's eyes. And River—Kai, River stands just like Ethan does when he's trying to be brave."
I can't answer. Can't confirm what she already knows. Can't do anything but stand here while five years of hatred crumbles around me.
"He made a terrible mistake," Sophie says. "The worst mistake. But Kai, he's been trying to fix it every day since. Please. Please just talk to him. One conversation. Let him explain. Let him apologize properly. Let him—" Her voice breaks. "Let him meet his children. Please."
"I can't." The words come out broken. "I can't just forgive him. He destroyed me, Sophie. I wanted to die. The only thing that kept me alive was finding out I was pregnant."
Sophie's face crumples. "He knows. He knows what he did to you, and it's killing him. But Kai, those babies deserve to know their father. And Ethan deserves a chance to be the father he should have been from the start."
My phone buzzes in my pocket. Text from Marcus: "Luna won't stop asking about the art set. She wants to know when she can meet the man who sent it. What do I tell her?"
Luna. My sweet, innocent Luna who sees good in everyone. Who thinks the sad man at the airport just needs someone to be nice to him.
River. My protective River who asked this morning why Uncle Ade looked worried all the time now.
They deserve the truth. They deserve a chance to know their father.
But do I deserve to risk my heart again?
"One conversation," Sophie presses. "That's all I'm asking. Let him explain. Let him show you the evidence. Let him prove he's changed. Then you can decide. Please, Kai. For those babies if not for yourself."
I close my eyes. Five years of running. Five years of building walls. Five years of convincing myself I was better off alone.
And now Sophie's here, showing me that maybe—maybe—Ethan had reasons. Wrong reasons. Terrible, misguided reasons. But reasons that came from wanting to protect me, not hurt me.
"If I agree to talk to him," I say slowly, "it doesn't mean I forgive him. It doesn't mean I trust him. It just means I'll listen."
Sophie nods eagerly. "That's all he wants. Just a chance to explain."
"And after I listen, I decide what happens next. Not him. Not you. Not anyone else. Me."
"Of course. Whatever you decide, Kai. Just please—talk to him."
I pull out my phone and stare at it. Ethan's number is still in my contacts. I never deleted it. Never could bring myself to erase that last connection, even after everything.
My thumb hovers over his name.
One conversation. That's all. Then I can decide if my children deserve to know the father who's been searching for them for five years.
Or if I should protect them from the man who destroyed their daddy's heart.
I press the call button before I can change my mind.
It rings once. Twice.
Then Ethan's voice, breathless and desperate: "Kai?"