Bella's POV
The drive home felt interminable.
Bella's mind raced as she navigated the familiar streets of New York City, her eyes on the road, but her thoughts firmly trapped in the past. Ethan. Seeing him again had opened a door she thought she had long sealed shut, and the pain that followed threatened to consume her.
What had she been thinking? Letting him get that close again, letting him see her… letting him see them. Aiden and Aria had never known about their father—never even spoken his name. She'd kept that part of their lives locked away, a secret that was hers and theirs alone.
But tonight, the veil had lifted. Ethan had seen them. And worse, he had asked the one question she had feared: Are they mine?
Her chest tightened as the memory of his voice echoed in her mind. Are they mine?
Of course, they were. She had never once doubted that Aiden and Aria were his children. But that didn't make it any easier to admit, not when the weight of the past hung so heavily between them. She had walked away from him for a reason. She had kept her children from him for a reason.
And now, that reason was staring her in the face. She wasn't ready to let him back into their lives. She couldn't.
"Mommy, are we going to see Daddy?" Aiden's soft voice interrupted her thoughts from the backseat.
Bella's heart stuttered in her chest. She glanced in the rearview mirror, meeting Aiden's innocent gaze. His question was simple, but the way it hung in the air felt like a hundred-pound weight pressing down on her chest.
"Daddy?" Aria repeated, her voice full of childish curiosity. "Who's Daddy, Mami?"
Bella's grip on the steering wheel tightened, the lump in her throat growing as she struggled to find the right words. How could she explain Ethan to them? How could she explain a man who had been both everything and nothing to her?
"Daddy is… someone from Mommy's past," she finally said, her voice strained as she kept her eyes on the road. "Someone who loved Mommy very much, but it didn't work out."
Aiden tilted his head, his blue eyes narrowing in thought, just like Ethan's. "Did he hurt you, Mommy?"
Bella's breath caught in her throat. She wasn't prepared for this. Not from him, not from her innocent, perceptive little boy. She didn't want him to know that part of the story. She didn't want to tarnish the image of Ethan in his mind, especially now that he was so close to discovering the truth.
"No," she whispered, forcing a smile as she glanced back at him. "He didn't hurt me. It just… didn't work out."
Aria, ever the optimist, piped up from the other side of the backseat. "But Mommy, you said we don't need a daddy. You and Carmen and the twins are enough, right?"
Bella's heart shattered as she looked at her daughter through the rearview mirror. Aria had always been a dreamer, a hopeful little soul. The kind of child who believed in happy endings even when life didn't offer them. Bella wished she could promise her that love would come in its purest form, that families could be whole again. But she couldn't promise that. Not when the truth was so complicated.
"Exactly, sweetheart," Bella said softly, her voice tinged with sadness. "Mommy, Carmen, and the twins are enough. We have everything we need."
But the truth of that was slipping away. She could feel it in her bones—the fracture in the life she'd worked so hard to build. Ethan's presence was the crack in the dam she'd constructed around her heart. And no matter how tightly she tried to seal it, the water was still pouring through.
---
Later that Night
By the time they arrived back at her apartment, the weight of the evening had exhausted Bella. She helped the twins out of the car, still lost in her thoughts, barely aware of Carmen arriving a few minutes later with a quiet "Hey, chica."
Carmen's voice broke through the fog of Bella's mind. "How'd it go, babe? You survived, right?" she teased, giving Bella a knowing look. She had seen Bella struggle in silence for years—ever since she had left Ethan, without ever fully revealing the pain that lingered beneath the surface.
Bella gave a tired smile. "It was fine. It's done now."
Carmen eyed her carefully. "You sure about that? 'Cause you look like you're about to collapse, and I know you. You can't fool me. What happened?"
Bella sighed deeply, the weight of the night catching up with her. "He's back, Carmen. He's really back. He saw the kids. He asked if they were his."
Carmen's face softened, and she stepped forward to wrap her arms around Bella. "Oh, honey. I know this isn't easy, but it's bound to happen. He's their father, too."
"I know," Bella whispered, closing her eyes as she leaned into her friend's embrace. "But I never wanted him to be. Not like this. I've kept them safe from him. They don't need to know the truth. They don't need him. They need me. Just me."
Carmen pulled back and looked at her, her gaze piercing. "And what about you, Bella? What do you need?"
Bella shook her head, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "I don't even know anymore."
Carmen's eyes softened, but her voice was firm. "Look, I get it. I do. You're scared. You've been through hell and back, but the kids deserve the truth. You deserve it, too. You can't keep running from him forever."
"Watch me," Bella replied stubbornly, though the words didn't sound as convincing as she wanted them to.
"Whatever you decide," Carmen said, squeezing Bella's shoulder. "I've got your back, always."
---
The Next Day
The morning light filtered in through the blinds, casting soft shadows across the living room as Bella sat at her desk, reviewing designs for her next collection. Her mind, however, kept returning to Ethan. What did he want from her? What did he want from them?
She had spent hours last night convincing herself that she could keep her distance, that the past was exactly that—the past. But the truth was, every time she closed her eyes, she saw Ethan's face, saw the look in his eyes when he asked about the kids. Saw the realization dawning on him.
And for the first time in five years, Bella couldn't deny it: She missed him.
But that didn't change the truth. She couldn't let him back in. Not when the walls she had spent so long building were all that stood between her and the heartache he had caused her.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed on the desk, a text message flashing across the screen.
Ethan: We need to talk. About everything.
Her breath hitched in her throat. He wasn't giving up.
But neither was she.