Chapter 4

Reina couldn’t sleep, she kept tossing and turning in bed, eyes wide open and a heart full of regret as memories flooded back. She could not believe herself. She had let her best friend ruin her life after all, the one person she swore she would never hurt, making promises at the altar: "for better or for worse, in sickness and in health."

 She hadn't trusted him enough to believe him then.

She’d had her doubts, and alas, she ended up making the wrong decision. For five long years, she lived in regret, her only solace being her little boy, Sebastian. He had Sylvester's eyes and nose, a reminder she woke up to every single day.

Sylvester still didn't know about Sebastian, and she felt truly guilty. She should have told him; she shouldn’t have kept something so big away for all those years. She had lost blood, and she had heard Marie tell her what the doctor said: "They lost the baby." But somehow, somewhere, the baby didn't die. Now, five years later, he was a big boy, a carbon copy of his father and always asking questions.

Now that he was back, she would have to tell him about his son. She owed him that much.

But first, she needed to have a talk with her best friend.

I drove to Marie’s apartment, my hands gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white. Her phone was still off, but I knew her habits. I found her just as she was stepping out of her door, looking as polished and untouchable as ever.

"Reina?" she gasped, her eyes widening. "I thought you were in Mexico!"

"Lie to someone who hasn't spent five years waking up in the dark, Marie," I snapped, closing the distance between us. "He’s here. Sylvester is back. And he told me everything." I lied, at least, not completely.

Marie’s face shifted. The "best friend" mask slipped, revealing something sharp and ugly underneath. She didn't deny it. She didn't even flinch.

"So he found you," she said, her voice dropping an octave. "And what? You believe him now? After you saw how much he 'wanted' me that night?"

"I saw what you wanted me to see," I whispered, the realization hitting me like a physical blow. "You set it all up. The phone calls, the hotel room... you even knew about the party. Why? Because you couldn't have him, you decided I couldn't either?"

Marie stepped closer, a cruel smile playing on her lips. "I did you a favor, Reina. You were always too soft for him. He’s a storm, and you’re just a girl playing house. Besides," she leaned in, her voice a venomous hiss, "it was so easy to break you. You never really trusted him, did you?"

I didn't slap her. I didn't scream. I just looked at the woman I had called my sister and felt a cold, dead weight settle in my chest. "You’re a monster, Marie. And I’m done being your victim."

I turned and walked away, her laughter echoing down the hallway behind me. But as I reached my car, the adrenaline faded, replaced by a crushing fear. If Marie was a monster, what did that make the man I had robbed of five years?

I thought of what to say to him. How do I introduce Sebastian to him?

"Hi, this is your son." This is your son?!! I facepalmed. How can you introduce a father and son that way?

'If only you didn't keep Seb from his father all this while,' my inner voice said. Shaking my head, I focused on driving back to the house before calling Sylvester.

I returned home to find the living room quiet, but the air was charged. Neel was outside with Mama, and the house felt strangely empty until I saw him.

Sylvester was standing by the mantle, holding a framed photograph. My heart stopped. It was a picture of Sebastian from his fourth birthday, grinning widely with a smear of chocolate on his cheek. He didn't turn around when I entered.

"He has my eyes," Sylvester said, his voice a low rumble that vibrated through the floorboards.

I froze in the doorway. "Sylvester..."

He turned then, and the look on his face wasn't anger. It was something much more painful: a profound, shattered grief.

"Five years, Reina. I spent five years mourning a marriage and wondering where I went wrong. And all that time, I had a son?"

"I was scared," I sobbed, the wall I had built around my heart finally crumbling. "I thought you betrayed me. I thought...

 I thought you were dead after that night in the hotel! I woke up and you wouldn't move, and I panicked."

"I wasn't dead." He stepped toward me, his presence overwhelming. "I was drugged. Marie invited me there to 'talk' about you, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital bed two days later with the police asking why my wife had fled a crime scene."

He stopped just inches from me. I could smell his familiar scent, sandalwood and hospital soap. "You kept him from me," he whispered, his hand trembling as he reached out to touch my face, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw. "My own blood. Why didn't you come back?"

"I was ashamed. After all the promises I made to you, I failed. I let Marie deceive me, separate us, and ruin our lives. I didn't know how to fix it, to fix us." I was crying now. "I am sorry, Sage. For not believing you that day, for not telling you about Seb, for not believing in us."

"You had a chance to fix it at that party. Why didn't you tell me anything? We wouldn't have had to wait this long!"

"I thought I’d killed you," I choked out. "I thought if I stayed, they’d take me away from him."

At that moment, the door to the hallway creaked open. A small, sleepy voice broke the tension. "Mommy? Who is the big man?"

We both turned. Sebastian was standing there in his dinosaur pajamas, rubbing his eyes. Sylvester’s breath hitched. He dropped to his knees, his eyes filling with tears as he looked at the boy who was a perfect mirror of his younger self.

"Hey there, little man," Sylvester said, his voice breaking. "I'm... I'm an old friend of your mom's."

Sebastian tilted his head, looking at Sylvester with an uncanny intensity. "You look like the man in Mommy’s locket."

Sylvester looked up at me, a single tear escaping. The secret was out. There was no going back now.