Chapter 849
“The Hart family wants me to come back,” Hayden said. I immediately understood without him needing further explanation. The Harts had stayed weirdly quiet through all the chaos Hayden had been through. Why? No clue.
“What are you thinking?” I asked. Then, with a sly smile, I added, “Let me guess—you don’t want to go, but you feel like you should?”
Hayden noticed I wasn’t eating and nudged my plate closer. “Eat first.”
“Talk, and I’ll eat,” I shot back.
He pushed my favorite dishes right in front of me. “No one can make me do something I don’t want to.”
“Then it’s me you’re worried about?” I asked, the thought hitting me mid-bite.
Hayden didn’t answer, which, of course, was the answer. My mind raced for a moment before I teased, “Wait—don’t tell me going back means you’d have to marry Yara?”
Hayden sighed. “The Hart heir and the Drago heir are supposed to marry. It’s been decided for years.”
So if he didn’t want that, all he had to do was step down as the Hart heir. Easy, right? Except clearly, it wasn’t.
I forced myself to stay light and breezy. “Well, go ahead, then. You and Yara are such a perfect match!”
Hayden’s gaze snapped to mine, sharp and ice-cold. “What did you just say?”
“I said—”
“Think carefully before you speak,” he warned, his tone dead serious.
Okay, wow. He was actually mad. I refused to back down. “Look, if you’ve decided to go back and that means marrying Yara, why shouldn’t I support you? Why are you snapping at me? I’m so generous like that.”
The more I talked, the more upset I got. I dropped my fork onto the plate with a clatter and shoved it away. “I’m done.”
Hayden didn’t try to smooth things over. Instead, he asked, “Are you really okay with it?”
“Yep. Totally fine!” I snapped, blinking back tears. “And when you two get married, I’ll send the fanciest gift ever.”
The first tear betrayed me, sliding down my cheek. Then the floodgates opened, and I quickly turned my head away. “Go. Go find your Yara. I don’t want to see you.”
Was I being dramatic? Maybe. But seriously—what was there to test? If I didn’t care about him, would I have kept this baby? And yet, he always seemed to pick Yara to confide in. Even when he faked his death, she knew, and I was left in the dark.
Now he wanted to play these games? No thanks.
I felt his hand on my shoulder, trying to turn me toward him. I refused to budge.
He sat beside me. “Don’t be mad, Kiki. It’s my fault, okay? All of it.”
“Go away,” I mumbled, shrugging him off. “I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Kiki,” he murmured, leaning in closer, “I wasn’t testing you, and I wasn’t joking. I’m not going back to the Hart family.”
I froze, surprised by the certainty in his voice. He’d already made up his mind. Hayden sighed, his tone turning serious. “But if I don’t go back, the Harts won’t let it slide. They’ll push back—hard. My mom went through this. She refused their arranged marriage, and after that, she and my dad barely scraped by. In the end… they didn’t survive it.”
My breath caught. He’d never told me this before.
It all made sense now—he wasn’t afraid for himself. He was terrified of history repeating itself, of us getting caught in the same nightmare his parents did.
“I’m not scared for myself,” he said quietly, pulling me into his arms. “But I can’t let you go through the same thing. You’ve had nothing but chaos since we got together, and that’s on me.”
Had he really brought chaos into my life? No. If anything, I’d dragged him into this storm.
I swallowed my pride and turned to look at him. “Hayden, as long as you’re with me, I’m not afraid of anything. Besides, you’re not exactly the kind of guy anyone can control.”