Chapter 205

Olivia

The door clicked shut, leaving Nathan, the twins, and I standing alone in the hallway. I watched in a state of numb shock as Ryan hobbled down the steps on his crutches, then climbed into one of the cars.

They drove away, but the paper outlining Ryan’s intent to take Elliot from me still lingered on the floor where it had fluttered down, as though smirking at me.

With a sigh, I turned. “That could have gone worse,” I murmured, more to myself than to anyone.

Nathan stood rigidly at the entrance to the living room, the tension in his broad shoulders unmistakable even from where I stood. His normally calm blue eyes bore into me with a mix of anger and disbelief, and I felt a knot form in my stomach.

“How could you?” His voice cut through the silence of the room, low and dripping with incredulity. “Letting Ryan, of all people, hold Elliot? What were you thinking, Olivia?”

Each word was a knife, stabbing at the walls of defense I’d built up.

“I weighed the risks, Nathan,” I shot back, forcing my voice to remain steady. I walked over to the doorway, my arms instinctively bouncing Elliot and Aurora, a motherly habit. “With all of us right there, did you really think he’d try anything? He would have been caught before he even took two steps. I know Ryan—he might be a lot of things, but he's not suicidal.”

Nathan took a few deliberate steps toward me, his face shadowed. “That’s where you’re wrong. Desperation makes people do reckless things. And after everything he’s gone through, who knows what he’s capable of?”

I felt my back hit the wall, both literally and metaphorically. But I wasn’t about to be cornered.

“Listen to me,” I began, gesturing with my hands, a heavy sigh escaping my lips. “He wanted to see them, to... to connect, maybe. It’s an instinct, something deeper than desire. I thought, maybe, just maybe, if he saw his children, he’d...” I trailed off, struggling to find the right words.

“Rethink his decisions?” Nathan finished for me, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He ran a hand through his tousled hair, clearly frustrated. “Or maybe you just let him become even more determined to take them away from us.”

The room was filled with a charged silence, the only sound being the distant hum of the ocean beyond our windows. The warm glow of the morning sun coming in through the window cast shadows on Nathan’s face, making his angular features appear even more chiseled.

The atmosphere was thick with tension, and I struggled to find my voice.

“I had to try, Nathan,” I murmured, avoiding his gaze. “I had to believe that there’s still some goodness left in him.”

Nathan exhaled sharply, pacing the room. The patterned rug muffled his steps, but I could feel the weight of his movements.

He stopped in front of the fireplace, staring at a family photo. It was a picture from the baby shower, with me holding my belly and Nathan standing beside me, a goofy grin on his face while he held a watermelon in front of his own belly. We were both laughing, tears streaked down our faces.

The happiness from that day now felt miles away.

“You always see the good in people, don’t you?” he murmured. “Even when they don’t deserve it.”

I felt my heart catch in my throat. I knew who he was referring to: Alvin. After all of our hard work, after all of my insisting that Alvin would come around and act like himself again if we just restored his hand, he still hated us.

I let out a soft sigh. “Maybe it’s a fault of mine,” I murmured. “But I wanted to try, at least. I know it was a risk, but…”

“We just can’t afford to be taking risks like that, Liv,” he said, using the old nickname that always made my heart flutter. Now, however, it only made the situation feel more somber. “Not when it comes to our family.”

I moved closer, still holding the twins in my arms. Upon seeing that Nathan was close, Aurora instinctively reached her tiny hands out for him, cooing impatiently. Without a second thought, Nathan scooped her up out of my arm and held her tightly against his chest.

We were silent for a few minutes, gazing at that picture from the baby shower as we held the twins. Nathan was right; Ryan wasn’t their father. Not really. And he never had been.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured.

Nathan shook his head. “Apologies can’t take something like that back. You put Elliot at risk. Letting him see them was one thing, but letting him hold Elliot, too?”

“I know,” I admitted. Instinctively, and to feel the warmth of Nathan’s body again after our night of passion, I reached out and touched his arm, feeling the warm fabric of his shirt beneath my fingers. “But I thought... I thought it might help. I thought it might change something. Anything.”

Nathan turned to face me, his gaze softening ever so slightly. “But at what cost?” He whispered, the pain evident in his eyes.

We stood like that, lost in our thoughts, the weight of our decisions pressing heavily on us. Nathan broke the silence, changing the subject, his pragmatic nature always at the forefront.

“Look, what’s done is done. Elliot is still here and safe, and that’s all that matters. But now we have to think about the eviction. We can’t afford to lose our home on top of everything else.”

Nodding, I pushed back a strand of hair that had fallen into my eyes. “Do you have any ideas?”

Nathan hesitated for a moment, as if considering how much to reveal. “I had an idea last night,” he finally said, his expression inscrutable. “You’ll see it in action tomorrow.”

Curiosity flared within me. “Can’t you give me a hint?”

A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Patience, Liv. Just trust me on this one.”

His attempt to lighten the mood was short-lived. His face grew serious again, and he took a deep breath.

“Olivia, these children... they might not be mine by blood, but they are in every other way. I've been there for every sleepless night, every fever, every laugh, every cry. I love them as if they were my own.”

He paused, swallowing hard. “If you ever let that man come close to them again, put them in any kind of danger... I don’t know if I can ever forgive you.”

His words stung, and I felt tears prick at the back of my eyes. “I never meant to—”

But he didn't let me finish. With a final, pained look, he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving me alone amidst the dim light and lingering tension.

The silence that followed was deafening. My mind raced, replaying our conversation, Ryan’s face, the weight of Elliot in his arms. Had I made a grave mistake? Or had my decision, no matter how rash it seemed, created a tiny ripple of change in Ryan's intentions?

As doubts clouded my mind, I could only hope that the path I had chosen would lead to a safer, happier future for our family.