door, the anger increasing at the sight of his daughter who had once again dropped off the face of the earth as per usual.

When the room fell silent, Jaylene loudly gulped, awkwardly laughing in an effort to ease the tension that filled the room. "Oh, please don't stop on my account."

     "Where the hell were you?" Henderson scolded her, noticing that her attire was still the same one she was wearing when he drove her home from the hospital. It didn't take much thinking for him to put the pieces together, shaking his head at her. "Were you with John's kid? Jaylene, I told you I didn't want you anywhere near him."

     "Leave the kid alone, Henderson." Marleen sighed loudly, noticeably tired from whatever argument she and her husband had gotten into before their daughter finally decided it was time to head home.

     "The kid is the main suspect in a murder case, Marleen, so forgive me if I'm worried about who our daughter dates." Henderson grimaced. He was using every opportunity to direct cruel remarks towards Marleen and the brunette stood nearby couldn't figure out why.

     "He's a suspect because Ward made him one when he decided to pin the blame on him for something his psychotic son had done!" Jaylene rapidly grew sick of the constant badmouthing regarding her boyfriend, deciding it was about damn time she stood up to her father regarding the matter. "Look I'm just gonna head upstairs and get a nice, relaxing shower in the comfort of my own home." She went to walk away, stopping dead in her tracks at the sound of her mother's voice pulling her back.

     "Jaylene, wait," Marleen called out, stumbling slightly over her words due to her heart pulsing rapidly in her temples from the arguing that had been going on just before Jaylene made her grand entrance. "Before I decide anything, would you be okay with me being back here? Maybe not in this house, but the Outer Banks?"

     Admittedly, Jaylene was surprised to hear that Marleen planned on sticking around despite making it perfectly clear that she had no desire to ever step back onto the cursed land. Regardless of the change of heart, she couldn't shake away the sadness that consumed her all those years without her mother by her side despite the fact that she was very much alive elsewhere. Even so, she was deprived of all human emotion, a careless shrug all she could manage due to the exhaustion. "Welcome home." She felt like vomiting a little the second the words left her mouth, even more with everything that followed when she dared walk towards the stairs.

     "Tell her." Henderson darted a cold look at the woman when she coincidently decided to leave out a major detail regarding her choice to stay despite wanting nothing more than to leave.

     "Look, Jay—" Marleen tried to find the right words to say despite the dull ache at the thought of her daughter resenting her more than she already did, but she was immediately cut off by the sound of red chucks slamming against the floor tiles followed by Marla's shouts demanding the unknown individual to get back.

     A young girl appeared from the backyard, her chestnut-colored locks similar to those attached to Jaylene's head—prior to her deciding to lighten the strands during her sophomore year, of course—chocolate-colored irises identical to those belonging to Mark Harrington with hues of green and blue noticeable if one looked close enough, and a radiant smile etched to her lips as the petals from the variety of flowers she carried blew off with the draft her body created as she rushed into the home. She looked eleven—twelve at most.

     Jaylene didn't know who the child was, she was unsure if she should or not. It didn't seem important, though, so she went to make another attempt to walk away, her heart lurching in her chest at what happened next.

     "Mom, they have a pool! Can we stay?! Please!"

     Jaylene's stare wavered, a lump forming in her throat at the word the child had used to refer to the blonde. Pained gaze glistened with tears before she could process what was occurring. She wanted to fall to the ground and curl up into a ball as she sobbed until her eyeballs felt like they were going to fall from her sockets. Because she now knew who that little girl was and she understood why her father was so angry at her mother. The thought of balancing her weight felt unmanageable, her body stumbling slightly in place with her back still turned, refusing to face the woman who had just broken her heart into fragments.

     Fortunately, before she could fall into a trance, the front door was pushed open and three bodies were standing behind it. Of course, it was only then that Jaylene wiped her eyes with the backs of her wrists, the blurry sight of the three causing her to gasp a bit.

     Samuel and Lily Rosewood entered the estate alongside their grandson, simultaneous laughter falling from their mouths from a conversation they'd been having upon entering the household. It died down quickly, the sight of the blonde sufficient to make their mouths fall open in surprise.

     It felt like hell. Jaylene's heart violently twisted at the sight of what looked like a kid on Christmas morning rushing towards the woman who'd birthed him, blissfully unaware of the heartache that would come upon the revelation that the little girl in the room, name unknown, had been the luckiest of the three for she had pulled the long end of the stick that the Rosewood siblings desired more than anything.

authors note:

WOW, THIS CHAPTER WAS CHAOTIC LOL. Definitely not the craziest in this book, but still one of my favorites to write.

My babies are reunited 🫶🏻, but these next couple of chapters are about to be everything but peaceful for them 🫣.

Umm, did anyone expect that?? I low-key hinted at it in chapter one, but sooo not the point hehehe.

I love all of you! Stay healthy and gorgeous! See you next chapter! <3