Page 103 of Scaled Daddy's Secret Heir
And I see it. The bones under the skin. The weight behind the silence. The man he used to be is still in there somewhere, but barely. This isn’t the Kalev I knew.
This is someone forged in fire I never got to see.
A stranger wearing his face.
He shifts his weight like he might step forward again.
I raise a hand. “No. You don’t get to—just—standthere and act like this is normal.”
“I don’t think anything’s normal anymore.”
“I grieved you,” I say again, like maybe if I keep saying it, the shock will wear off.
“I know.”
“You left me to drown in it.”
His jaw tightens. “Because it was safer that way.”
“Not for me.”
Silence expands between us like a tide pulling back to gather strength.
His shoulders lower, just slightly. “I deserve that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“I know.”
Still, he doesn’t move. Doesn’t ask to come inside.
Just waits.
Like he’s ready for me to throw the rest of my fury into him if that’s what I need.
Like pain is the only currency he has left.
“I thought I hated you,” I say. My voice is low now, like if I speak any louder it’ll all spill out. “Iwantedto. God, Itried.”
“I know,” he says, quiet as a confession.
I shake my head, fingers curling against my arms. “I needed to forget you.”
He steps forward—barely half a foot—and something in the air between us sharpens. My skin knows him before I let myself register it. The way the floor creaks beneath his weight. Thescent of old smoke, leather, and rain still clinging to his coat. Something ancient and familiar.
I don’t step back.
But Idon’tlet myself move closer.
“You didn’t just disappear, Kalev,” I whisper. “You tore a hole in me. Youleftme in it.”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“You don’t get to decide that for me.”
His jaw twitches. “I wasn’t trying to play hero.”
“No. You were trying to disappear. And you did. Foryears.”
