Chapter 52
The drive home feels longer than it should. Gunner’s voice is still in my head, taunting me.
“She’s the first thing to make your heart beat again… since Chloe, you’ve been nothing but a ghost p>
I grip the steering wheel harder than necessary. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Sierra doesn’t make my heart beat, she makes me want to explode, and not in a good kind of way. Every encounter with her is filled with hate and heated arguments. There is nothing positive about that.
I get home and just take a moment to breathe. Nolan and Nova are probably asleep even though it’s the weekend. I spent some time with them before meeting with Gunner. When I left, they were watching cartoons.
The house greets me in silence; its wide halls dim and still. For a moment, I welcome it. Quietness is easier than the storm in my head. But as I step further inside, I hear the faintest sniffle. Then, footsteps.
Brook emerges from the sitting room, her movements slow. Her eyes glisten, and one cheek carries a faint redness -like the aftermark of a slap. She looks fragile, like glass ready to shatter.
I stop cold. “What happened p>
She hesitates, lowering her gaze as though ashamed. “Nothing… it’s nothing p>
“Brook.” My voice hardens. “What happened p>
Her lip trembles. “Sierra p>
Every muscle in my body tightens. “What about Sierra p>
“She-” Brook swallows hard, tears catching in her throat. “She slapped me, Noah. Out of nowhere. I don’t even understand why.” 2
I stare at her, words snagging in my throat. Slapped her? Sierra? What the fuck is wrong with that woman? She’s always despised Chloe and Brook, but hitting Brook? Unprovoked? That’s insanity
Brook steps closer, her fragility sharpened with each word. “She looked at me like I was nothing. Like I was in her way. And then she said it p>
My chest tightens. “Said what p>
Brook meets my eyes, her own brimming with pain and tears. “She told me to get to pack my bags. That she’ll soon be the new Mrs. Noah Woods, and that there was no longer a place for me in your house, so I should just leave p>
The air leaves my lungs. If I thought I’d been pissed? I was wrong because now I’m completely livid.
Brook’s voice cracks, whispering, “She said it like Chloe’s memory means nothing. Like the years you spent with her meant nothing p>
I clench my jaw, torn between disbelief and fury. Who the fuck does she think she is, spewing such bullshit? Ordering Brook to leave? She’s lost her goddamn mind!
Brook continues twisting the knife “She hates me because I remind her of Chloe. Maybe she can’t stand that you once loved someone else. That you chose Chloe over her. She wants me to leave and make room for her and her baby p>
My jaw clenches so tight it aches. Who the hell does Sierra think she is? Ordering Brook out of this house, spitting on Chloe’s memory, claiming a title that isn’t hers? Has she completely lost her mind, or does she think the baby gives her leverage?
“When did this happen?” I grind out.
“At the mall,” Brook says softly, trembling as if the events of what happened still have her shaken. “She cornered me while I was shopping. People were watching, Noah. I was so embarrassed. She made me feel so small p>
My chest heaves. I should have known. I did know. Sierra’s been a viper from the beginning. And yet, every time she stoops lower, it still manages to shock me.
Brook lowers her lashes, whispering, “I didn’t even see her until she was right in front of me. I was minding my business. She just lashed out p>
The image burns behind my eyes. Sierra at the bar earlier, fire sparking in her gaze. That same fire would have no problem striking Brook. After all, hasn’t she slapped me before? Violence and venom drip from her like second nature.
If I had known. If Brook had told me sooner, I would have confronted that viper at the bar and made her wish she hadn’t crossed Brook.
“Noah,” Brooks calls with pain flashing in her eyes.
“What p>
“She–She,” she pauses and takes a deep breath. “She said that She’ll make you forget Chloe. That she’ll make sure you’re so in love with her that Chloe will cease existing in your heart p>
For a moment, I just stare at her. The words don’t land all at once–they crawl under my skin, snake into my veins, and then erupt like fire.
My vision blurs red. Heat rushes up my neck, pounding in my temples. “She said what?” My voice comes out raw, jagged, like it’s been dragged through broken glass. 1
Brook flinches, but the damage is done. The match has already hit the gasoline.
“Forget Chloe?” My laugh is sharp, twisted, and not even human. I shove the coffee table so hard it scrapes across the floor and slams into the wall. A lamp topples, shattering, glass spraying across the hardwood.
“She thinks she can erase Chloe from me?!” My chest heaves as I grab the nearest photo frame–Chloe smiling, sunlight in her hair—and my hand shakes so violently I nearly drop it. My breath comes in ragged bursts. “No one erases Chloe! No one!” 1
The rage claws out of me, uncontrollable. I feel like I’m about to explode.
I’m pacing now, fistsclenching and, unclenching, my throat burning with a sound between a growl and a roar. She’s out of her damn mind. She wants me to just forget the only woman who ever-” My voice cracks, but I crush it down with another shout. “Chloe is mine and I am hers. Not even death will change that p>
My chest feels like it’s splitting open. The grief I’ve kept chained for years writhes free, tangled with fury so sharp it feels like knives inside me. I slam my fist into the wall, plaster crumbling under the force.
Brook sobs softly behind me, but I can’t stop. I’m spiraling, choking on every word Sierra supposedly said. My house feels too small, my skin tootight, and, my heart too wrecked.
I never bothered with her life, but now I need to know every fucking detail. Every dirty secret she has. (1)
I yank my phone from my pocket and dial a number given to me by my dad, but I’ve never had use of it.
“Hello,” comes a groggy voice.
“Get me every single fucking think on Sierra Meyers p>
I don’t wait; I just hang up. I’m too pissed and too wired to be civil.
Sierra just crossed and made this personal by attacking Chloe’s memory. If it’s war she wants, it’s war she’ll get.
Evelyn M.M