Chapter 3: You Still Don't Trust Me

Emma's POV

The dinner continues in a silence so thick it feels like drowning.

Candlelight flickers. Champagne sits untouched. The food I spent all afternoon making is getting cold. Nobody's eating.

I'm cutting my steak harder than necessary. The knife scrapes porcelain. Mia's asleep against my shoulder now, one small hand wrapped around my collar. Her breath is warm through my dress.

Ethan won't stop staring. His eyes move from me to Mia and back again. Like he's memorizing us. Like we might disappear.

Noah's head is down, shoveling food into his mouth. His fork hits the plate too loud.

"So... this is awkward as hell," he mutters.

Silence.

"I mean, this is insane. My uncle and my boss, and Mia..."

More silence.

"It's late." My voice comes out flat. Too calm. "Noah, take Mia upstairs. She needs to sleep."

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Noah stands fast. His chair scrapes.

He comes over careful, like I might bite. I let him take Mia. She makes a small sound and pulls Mr. Hops closer. Under the table, Ethan's hands are clenched white.

Noah adjusts her in his arms and heads for the stairs. Halfway up, he looks back.

"Uncle Ethan, you..." He stops. Shakes his head. Keeps going.

The footsteps fade. A door closes upstairs.

Now it's just us.

The candlelight makes his eyes even more striking. Blue and green, both locked on me.

I stand and turn away, starting to clear dishes. "You saw everything. I'm fine. Go back to LA."

My voice is steady. My hands shake.

"Emma..."

"It's Lily. Lily Carter."

"You'll always be Emma to me."

He's moving closer. I hear his footsteps. Smell that cologne. Same one after seven years.

"Don't." I back up until I hit the counter.

He stops. Those eyes burn into me. "I've been looking for you. Seven years. Every day."

I laugh. It sounds bitter. "Yeah? How hard? I wasn't hiding. I opened a gallery. Did local shows. My work's been online for four years."

"You changed your name. Disappeared. No social media under Emma Whitmore. No address. Nothing."

"Because I didn't want to be found. Not by you. Not by anyone from that life."

"Do you know what it's been like?" His voice cracks. "Every night I look at your photos before bed. Every morning I search for you online. I hired three different investigators..."

"So what?" I cut him off. My voice rises. "You want a medal? Want me to say thank you?"

"You left me alone in that apartment for two years, Ethan. Two fucking years of waiting. Eating dinner by myself. Celebrating my birthday alone because you had some audition or networking thing. And then the one time I needed you to show up, you went to dinner with a producer's daughter instead."

Footsteps on the stairs. Noah appears.

"Mia's asleep. I'm gonna head out."

The air feels heavy.

"Uncle Ethan..." Noah's voice is serious now. "Lily's a good person. She's been through a lot. So be nice to her, okay?"

"I know." Ethan's voice goes hard. "Now go home before I call your dad and tell him you're bothering your boss at 11 PM."

Noah laughs awkwardly. "Okay, okay. Jesus."

The door clicks shut.

I turn back to Ethan. "You saw it yourself. I have Noah. He's good to me. He doesn't care that I have a kid. He helps with Mia, works at the gallery..."

"You're lying."

I freeze. "What?"

"You have a tell." He takes another step. His voice is calm. "When you lie, the corner of your right eye twitches. Tiny. Most people miss it. I don't."

He pauses. Something sad crosses his face.

"Besides, before I came tonight, Noah asked me to be his wingman. Said he'd been trying to win you over for three years. You kept saying no. The second he found out about us, he couldn't even look at me."

Heat floods my face. Not shame. Anger.

Before I can respond, Ethan closes the distance and pulls me into his arms.

"Let go. Ethan, let me..."

But my body betrays me. My hands push at his chest with no real force. He's too familiar. His warmth. His heartbeat. The way his arms fit. Everything's the same.

Then the tears come.

Not gentle crying. The ugly kind. Chest heaving. Can't breathe. My whole body shakes.

"Why did you have to show up now? Seven years. Seven fucking years and I finally stopped having nightmares about you."

The words tumble out between sobs.

"Do you know what it was like? Pregnant and alone in a new city? I didn't know anyone. I had three grand in my account. I worked at a coffee shop until I was eight months pregnant because I couldn't afford not to."

My voice drops to a whisper. "I had Mia by myself. No one held my hand during contractions. No one was there when she was born. The nurse had to cut the cord because there was no father to do it."

Ethan's arms tighten. When I look up, his eyes are red.

"I'm sorry. God, Emma, I'm so fucking sorry."

I laugh but it sounds like crying. "You know what the worst part is? I still searched for your name sometimes. I'd see you at award shows, premieres, with all those actresses. And I'd tell myself I was over you. That I didn't care."

My voice gets quieter. "But then I'd paint something and without realizing it, I'd hide your name in it. Every single painting for four years. Why am I so pathetic?"

Ethan's hands come up to wipe my face. His eyes are wet too.

"You're not pathetic. I am. I let you go. I chose a stupid contract clause over the woman I loved."

His voice is fierce. "But I'm here now. I'm not leaving. I'm going to prove I've changed. That I choose you and Mia over everything. Over my career, my image, everything."

I push him away, wiping my face with my sleeve. "It's late. You should go. If paparazzi see you here, it'll start rumors."

Ethan stares at me. Something complex in his expression. "You still think I care about that."

"You should care. Your career..."

"Fuck my career."

I freeze. Seven years ago, those words would never have left his mouth.

"You still don't trust me. I get it. Doesn't matter. We have the rest of our lives for me to prove it to you."

He walks to the door, then turns back. His eyes are steady.

"I meant what I said at dinner. I'm getting my wife back. Not because I need you. Not because I'm lonely. But because you and Mia are my family. And I'm done being a coward."

I watch his back as he walks out the door. My emotions are a tangled mess I can't begin to sort through.