Page 69 of His Surrender
The hope fades as her shoulders straighten. The softness disappears from her face, replaced by a calmness that somehow hurts even more.
She turns back to Jeremy. “I’d like that.”
The words land with devastating precision.
His grin returns immediately. “Really?”
She nods. “Yeah.”
“I know it’s short notice.”
“I don’t mind.”
He smiles, genuinely pleased. “How about seven?”
“That works.”
“I’ll meet you down here.”
She smiles at him. “I’ll see you then.”
He gives her an easy smile before nodding politely in my direction. “Have a good evening.”
I don’t answer.
He disappears through the revolving doors, leaving behind a silence so heavy that it feels tangible.
Liana smiles happily from her stroller, blissfully unaware that my entire world seems to have tilted on its axis. Without a word, I push the stroller toward the private elevator.
Aubrey follows.
The doors slide closed behind us as silence falls upon us.
Not the comfortable silence we’ve shared countless times before. This one has edges.
I keep my eyes fixed on the glowing numbers above the doors.
I should remind her that she’s only been in the city for a month. That she shouldn’t go to dinner with a man she barely knows.
That… no. The thought dies as quickly as it forms. She’s an adult. A smart one.
And this guy isn’t some stranger she met on the street. He appears to live in my building.
But more importantly … I don’t get a vote. I surrendered that the moment I decided pretending she didn’t exist was somehow protecting us both.
Beside me, Aubrey grabs the stroller and gently rocks it back and forth with one hand. She won’t look at me.
Eventually, the silence becomes unbearable.
“Aubrey …” My voice sounds rough.
She turns her head just enough to acknowledge she heard me.
“Yes?”
That one word sounds so polite and professional. It’s exactly the tone I spent the last week teaching her to use.
Everything I wanted to say vanishes.
