Chapter 12 – Mixed Signals and Hidden Fears
The doorbell rang again.
Aria stood motionless in the middle of her tiny kitchen, arms folded protectively around her still-flat stomach. Her brows furrowed as she stared at the door. She already knew who it was. For the past week, he had shown up every day without fail—sometimes with flowers, sometimes with food, always with words she didn't want to hear.
"Kade," she muttered under her breath, frustration lacing her voice. "You just don't give up, do you?"
She stayed silent, hoping he'd go away like he eventually did the previous days. But this time, instead of waiting outside for a few minutes and leaving, he knocked again.
"Aria, please. Just open the door," came his deep, familiar voice. "I won't stay long. I promise."
The silence stretched as Aria's fingers gripped the edge of the counter. She wasn't ready for this. Not for his eyes, not for the guilt they tried to shove down her throat. Not for his charm or the regret she could see slowly consuming him. No matter how soft he sounded now, she couldn't forget the way he once belittled her. Humiliated her. Called her a child.
A child.
But that child was now carrying his baby.
Finally, she made her way to the door and unlocked it, opening it only halfway. Kade stood there in a gray button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up, hair tousled like he had run his hands through it a thousand times. His eyes met hers, and for a second, something in them flickered—hope or pain, she couldn't tell.
"You said one minute," she said coolly. "So talk."
Kade hesitated, like he was choosing his words carefully. "I know I messed up. You've said it, and I've said it. A hundred times. But I want to be in the baby's life, Aria. Please, don't shut me out."
She scoffed. "Now you want to be a father? What changed, Kade? Because a few years ago I was just a 'kid' you could humiliate."
"I never meant—"
"Save it," she snapped. "You did mean it. You looked me in the eyes and told me I wasn't woman enough. And now, just because I'm carrying your child, you want to rewrite history?"
Kade looked down, jaw clenched.
"I didn't know you were pregnant. I didn't even know that night meant something to you—"
"Of course it meant something!" she interrupted. "It was my first time. You were my first everything. And you—" her voice cracked, "—you shattered that."
Silence hung between them. The air between them wasn't thick with tension anymore—it was heavy with emotion, like the ruins of something once beautiful now reduced to dust.
"I know I don't deserve forgiveness," he said softly. "But I swear to you, Aria, I'll take care of you and the baby. I'll make things right."
Her shoulders stiffened. "This isn't about what you deserve. It's about what I want. And I don't want your apologies. I don't want your pity. And I don't want you pretending to be the hero in this story."
"I'm not pretending," he said, stepping forward. "I know I can't erase the past. But I want to be here. Let me—"
"No," she whispered. "You're nine years older than me, Kade. Nine. You cheated on me, left me broken at eighteen, and you only want back in because life decided to tie us together again. Well, I won't raise my child feeling like they're some burden you're carrying out of guilt."
Kade's eyes turned glassy, his voice quiet. "You really think I see this baby as a burden?"
She hesitated. "I don't know what you see. And honestly, I don't care. I've already decided—I'm raising this child alone."
Kade's chest rose with a long breath. "So that's it?"
"That's it."
He stared at her for a moment, like he was memorizing her face, then turned to leave. No more words. No more begging.
Aria shut the door gently and leaned her forehead against it, tears threatening to fall. She hated how her chest ached after he left. She hated that a part of her wished he'd stayed just a little longer.
But more than anything… she hated that she didn't trust herself around him.
She moved to the living room and sank into the worn-out couch, resting a hand on her stomach. "It's just you and me now, little one," she whispered, brushing invisible strands of hair behind her ear. "And I swear… I'll never let anyone hurt us again."
Her phone buzzed.
She ignored it at first, but when it buzzed a second and third time, she picked it up, expecting another message from Kade.
But it wasn't.
It was a friend from the diner she used to work at.
"You might want to check the news. Your name is trending."
Aria's heart stopped. Her name? Why?
Hands trembling, she opened her browser and typed in her name.
The first headline that popped up made her blood run cold.
"Mysterious Woman Seen Entering Billionaire Kade Val's Hotel Room three Months Ago—Identity Possibly Revealed."
Photos.
One grainy photo of her walking through the hotel hallway, face blurred but posture unmistakably hers.
Another one—clearer—taken just outside the apartment complex she'd moved into last week.
She stared at the screen, her breath catching.
No. No, no, no.
How?
Who leaked this?
How the hell did they find her?
The baby was still just a flutter in her womb, but the consequences of that one night were no longer a secret.
She wasn't just a pregnant twenty-year-old trying to move on from a cheating ex anymore.
Now, the whole world knew… and things were about to get a lot messier.