Fiona stood justinside the bar’s entryway, frozen.
She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop.
She’d pushed open the heavy wooden door expecting to find Dean alone. She hadn’t expected to seethem.
Roxanne. Ava. Jared. Cam. The curated elite of Dean’s old life. The ones who’d once called her “wholesome” like it was a slur. The ones who’d smirked behind wine glasses whenever she spoke.
Her stomach went tight.
She should turn around. Leave. She didn’t want to see his awful friends, not anymore.
But then she heard them.
She heard Dean’s voice.
Fiona’s breath caught.
Dean’s voice was shaking, but he didn’t stop. Hekept going. About her work, her kindness, the things she did that nobody ever noticed but that mattered—reallymattered.
Fiona’s eyes burned.
She hadn’t expected this.
She needed a second. Needed to breathe.
Because suddenly, her chest felt full of splinters. Dean had humiliated her. Betrayed her.
But in that moment, he wasn’tthatman.
In that moment, he was the man she hadoncebelieved in. The man who saw her clearly—finally. Fiercely.
And part of her, against all logic,achedat the sound of it.
Fiona pressedher palm to her sternum like she could slow the pounding in her chest.
She didn’t know what she felt.
It should’ve been triumph. Some self-righteous satisfaction that the man who’d humiliated her was now publicly flaying himself in front of the very people he’d once tried to impress.
But it wasn’t.
It was… ache.
It was too much, too fast. Her body couldn’t hold all of it: the heat of vindication, the sting of remembered betrayal, the sudden, painful flood ofhope.
He’d called her kind. Brave. Important.
She swallowed hard, eyes burning.
How was she supposed to hold all of this? The memory of the online account that had gutted her. The way he’d smiled while people laughed at her. The long, slow erosion of trust that no apology could reverse.
But also?—
Also this man in the other room, voice shaking as he defended her like she was something important.
He wasn’t who he used to be. That was clear.
But was that enough?
