Page 120 of Unbreakable Thread

Once our appointment is over, and we walk to the car, I lift Sol in my arms. She squeals. “Max.”

I kiss her stupidly. “You make me so fucking happy. Didn’t I tell you I can get you pregnant in a heartbeat? Not just with one, but two.”

Gently, I lower her to her feet, my hands lingering at her waist. I bend and press my lips to hers—soft, warm, tasting faintly of strawberry lip balm. The kiss lasts only seconds, our breath mingling in the space between us, but in that fleeting moment, something electric passes between us—a current of unspoken promises, conveying everything my fumbling mouth cannot. She always understands me, even when I can’t voice how much she means to me and what she does for me. It’s not just Sol and me. It’s the family we’ve dreamed of having. It’s pieces of the puzzle that are finally coming together.

“You make me happy, too. I can’t wait to have your mini-me running around.”

My smile reaches my eyes. “Very handsome kids, of course.” I gesture to my face.

“Oh, you cocky ass,” she teases.

A gust of hot wind passes us. Strands of hair fall to her side, covering her beautiful eyes. I curl it behind her ears. “I want our kids to be just like you. You have this warmth that spreads like fire. It’s what drew me to you right from the beginning. You’re kind, intelligent, and so fucking beautiful. The queen in my story,” I tell her.

She looks up at me. I watch her remember. The chessboard. The tree house. The argument about queens. It was always her.

“I am about to cry.” She sniffs. “Sorry, too late.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I was thinking we should all go out to dinner this weekend. I’ll invite Leo, Drake, Xander, and my dad, and you can invite Lana and Justin. A great way to celebrate is to give them the news.”

She grins as I wipe her tears. “That sounds amazing.”

After checking on the café’s remodeling, we drive back home. Sol doesn’t have school today. The summer session ended. The fall semester starts in two weeks. I hang the ultrasound image on the fridge. Two heartbeats. A boy and a girl. I’m looking at it when her arms come around me. How incredible, she has two babies growing in her.

Sol kisses my back. “Max, as much as I dread this conversation. I know I need to tell you. All I ask is that you don’t push me away. I kept this from you long enough. At first, I thought he was right…”

I turn to face her. “Who is this person? And I would never push you away.”

“I was scared to tell you.” Her thumb rubs against her shirt. Hours ago, she was happy, smiling. Now, the color has drained from her face. “I’m even more scared now.”

I cup her chin between my thumb and forefinger, tilting her face up at me. Something darkens in me. Who put his fear in her eyes? Is it me she fears? My stomach twists into a cold, hard knot. “Who did this to you?” My voice comes out as a whisper, then hardens. “Who fucked with you?”

I take her hand in mine. “Tell me who I need to fuck up?” I sit her on the sofa. “Tell me, baby, did someone threaten you?”

She nods, and a tear slides down her cheek.

My jaw flexes with anger.

“Umm, can you hear me out first before running out the door? Let me tell you everything first.”

“Okay.”

“So.” She sighs. “When you were training months back, Carlos asked me to go into his office to talk with him. He…he said things that…” She pauses. “At the time, they made sense. I was going through so much.” She pauses again and swallows. “He said, I’m a distraction to you…” She tells me about the conversation she had with him in his office that I remember only because she looked distressed. “I didn’t want to leave you, Max…I didn’t. I convinced myself we could work this out together. I was going to tell you everything going on in my head, then Carlos called me… He said I’m your trigger. And you deserve a life where you can forget the past, not look at it every day.”

She recounts word-for-word what he said to convince her to leave me. He knew she was fracturing. He knew about the scars. What we both went through. And he used every single one of them. The bastard never cared about me. He continued to pull me away from her. I’m so close to driving to the gym, splitting his lips in half, and dragging him across the gym, making his face unrecognizable.

“How did he threaten you?”

“There is so much more, Max.”

I figured that much from what I found out and what she’s telling me. I just wish I had pieced it all together sooner.

No wonder Leo’s been acting a little off. Carlos has been fucking with his head. He knows Leo has past issues that affect him.

“Then he came to the house when your dad was here.”

She jolts me from my thoughts.

“When?”