CHAPTER 2 — The Truth Beneath the Empire
Later that night, I didn’t go to a hotel.
I didn’t go anywhere he could find me easily.
I went somewhere he would never expect.
A small rented house outside the city.
Quiet street. Dim lights. No security. No empire.
Just a home.
The boys were asleep within minutes—exhausted from travel, still holding onto me even in their sleep.
I sat in the kitchen alone.
Until I heard the knock.
I knew who it was before I opened the door.
Blake stood there, no entourage, no security, no arrogance.
Just a man stripped of everything except questions.
“I need to know,” he said.
His voice wasn’t commanding anymore.
It was broken in places.
I didn’t let him in right away.
“You had five years,” I said. “You didn’t ask once.”
“I thought you betrayed me.”
“That was your choice to believe.”
A long pause.
Then he said something quieter.
“I saw the messages again.”
My fingers tightened slightly on the doorframe.
“And?”
“They weren’t complete,” he admitted. “There were missing parts. Deleted threads. Timelines that didn’t match.”
I stayed silent.
Because I remembered that night.
The way everything was taken out of context.
The way I tried to explain.
And the way he refused to listen.
Blake’s voice lowered.
“I need to know if they’re mine.”
That question didn’t shock me.
It exhausted me.
Because the truth wasn’t dramatic.
It was worse.
“Yes,” I said simply.
One word.
No decoration.
No emotion.
Just truth.
The air between us collapsed.
Blake stepped back slightly, like the ground had shifted again.
“And you never told me.”
I laughed once—not bitter, just tired.
“You didn’t stay long enough to be told.”
May you like
That was the moment he went completely silent.
Because even he couldn’t argue with time.
