Chapter 3
Chapter 3:
He was only seventeen then, yet he stood his ground before his older brother, Sawyer Owen. “I can’t be her legal guardian without a wife. You adopt her on paper—I’ll take care of everything else.” Ryan kept that promise. He gave Kailey the best of everything, sheltering and spoiling her as the years passed.
But to her, he was never truly an uncle, no matter how often he used the title.
Kailey grew up believing she and Ryan were meant for each other. On her eighteenth birthday, she told him she liked him. Ryan shut her down, calling her too young, citing too great a distance between them, and insisting he could only ever treat her as his niece. Yet even as he built that wall, he never let another man get close to her.
Kailey mistook his protectiveness for something more, convincing herself it was jealousy—that he was simply waiting for her to be older. She truly believed that one day, if she just waited long enough, everything would fall into place.
As the city slipped by in a blur of lights and shadows, Kailey stared out the taxi window, lost in her own thoughts. Tears pricked her eyes for reasons she could not quite name. She realized that growing older had done nothing to ease the ache, and that letting go of love was its own kind of sorrow. Quietly, she made herself a promise: she would finally set Ryan free from her heart.
𝘈d𝘥𝗂𝘤𝗍𝘪𝗏e 𝗌𝘵o𝘳𝗶e𝘴 𝘰n
Not long after, Kailey arrived home. She brushed away the last of her tears, pressed every feeling back down, and went upstairs without a word. A hot shower steadied her nerves, and soon after, she slipped into bed and let the darkness take her.
She was certain sleep would refuse to come. Instead, she rested more deeply than she had expected.
The next morning, she was pulled awake by loud clanking sounds echoing through the house, as if someone was rearranging the entire kitchen. Once dressed, Kailey followed the noise downstairs, where it grew only sharper and more persistent. Still groggy, she yawned and drifted toward the kitchen, assuming the housekeeper had arrived early.
“You’re up really early p>
Her voice died the moment she saw who was standing there.
A woman moved between the stove and the counter, dressed in white with a cream apron tied neatly around her waist. Her long hair was pinned back in an elegant clip, and everything about her looked carefully put together.
Kailey stopped cold.
Ryan’s first love. The woman he could never truly forget. Olivia Marsh.
Olivia turned with a bright smile, as if she belonged there. “Kailey, you’re awake! I was going to finish breakfast and then come get you. I didn’t think you’d be up this soon p>
Kailey bit back a scoff. With all that clattering, she’d have had to be deaf to sleep through it.
She drew in a long breath, steadying herself, and forced a thin smile. “What brings you here this early p>
Olivia touched her lips, feigning a touch of modesty. “Ryan had a bit too much to drink last night. I brought him home, helped him clean up, and since you were here by yourself, I thought I’d cook breakfast for everyone p>
So the two had spent the night together.