Semua Bab Too Late To Love Me: I Already Left With His Twins: Bab 91 - Bab 100

Lydia’s POVThat day just refused to end quietly.I was still irritated when I got home, the kind of irritation that sits under your skin and refuses to go away no matter how hard you try to ignore it. Because what exactly was that? I had just seen Dave, casually standing in a mall like his entire world was not collapsing. I thought his company was in chaos, lawsuits flying around, the board removing him as CEO, appointing an acting one, all those corporate politics he used to breathe and live for. So what exactly was he doing here, in this country, walking around like nothing was happening?It annoyed me more than I wanted to admit.I parked the car a little harder than necessary, stepped out, and walked into the house with that same energy still sitting on my shoulders. Before I could even fully step in, I heard Ava’s voice from the kitchen, loud and expectant.“Mom, where’s my yogurt?”“I’m inside already,” I called back. “I’m bringing it.”I picked up the bags and walked faster i

Ava’s POVThe night after we met Dave Ashton in the park.Eli rolled over and asked, “Do you think Mom knows we know?”“She probably suspects,” I whispered back.And honestly? That conversation could’ve gone somewhere emotional or deep or whatever, but instead Eli said, “If she ever tells us officially, let’s just act surprised.”I turned to look at him. “Why?”“Because she clearly wants to say it herself.”And annoyingly enough… he was right.So we agreed.If Mom ever decided to tell us about our father, we’d let her do it her own way.No pressure.No “we already know.”Nothing.Because even if she tried to hide it, you could tell the whole thing hurt her somehow.And if there’s one thing Eli and I are both very serious about, it’s Mom.Always Mom.So when she suddenly started acting suspiciously nice that morning, I already knew something was coming.Breakfast in bed on a weekday?Yeah. Something was definitely happening.Eli knew too.The minute she walked into the room carrying tr

Lydia’s POVFor a second, I genuinely forgot how to breathe.Not because I didn’t expect this conversation to happen someday. Honestly, somewhere deep down, I had always known this moment would eventually come. Dave Ashton was many things, but he was not a man who stayed buried in the past forever. Eventually, he would ask. Eventually, the truth would stand between us fully formed, impossible to avoid.Still, hearing it out loud felt different.The question landed heavily between us, and I just stared at him for a moment, my fingers tightening slightly around the warm cup of cappuccino sitting untouched in front of me.The moment I used to fear was finally here.And strangely enough… I was not as afraid as I thought I would be.Maybe because of my children.Maybe because I had already told them the truth. Maybe because after that conversation, after hearing Ava and Eli tell me so simply that they were fine with just me, something inside me had settled. Even if this somehow turned into

Dave’s POV“Did you keep the pregnancy?”The second the words left my mouth, I knew there was no taking them back.Lydia went still across from me.Not dramatic. Not emotional. Just still in that dangerous way she gets when something hits deeper than she wants people to see.Her fingers tightened slightly around the cappuccino cup in front of her, and for the first time since she sat down, she didn’t immediately respond with another sharp remark designed to cut me open efficiently.The café suddenly felt too quiet.I could hear the low hum of the espresso machine somewhere behind us. Cups clinking softly. A chair scraping faintly across the floor near the counter.And all I could think was:Please say no.God.Please say no.I had spent close to six years convincing myself not to think about it too much.Because thinking about it meant confronting what I had done.Thinking about it meant remembering Lydia standing in front of me with tears in her eyes while I accused her of trying to

Lydia’s POVBy the time I finally got back to work, the entire morning already felt like three separate days stitched together badly.The meeting with Dave had dragged longer than I expected, emotionally and physically, and even though I had walked out of that café composed, the exhaustion settled into me properly the second I stepped into my office building.Not emotional exhaustion exactly.More like mental fatigue.Like my brain had spent too many hours holding itself upright carefully.The receptionist greeted me immediately when I walked in, and I smiled automatically before heading toward my office. My heels clicked steadily against the marble floor while my phone buzzed nonstop in my hand with work notifications I had ignored during the café meeting.Normal life.Deadlines.Consultations.Campaign revisions.Client complaints.Honestly?Thank God for work.Because work didn’t care about emotional devastation.Work just kept moving.The second I entered my office, my assistant s