EuropeNovelMy CEO 187
187 The Edge
187 The Edge (Jayden)
We're back in my car, outside the high security facility, but my mind is still trapped in that room with Ashlyn. Her
words stick in my head. This is a bad dream | can't shake off. Judy will always have a hold on you. One day, she'll
control your life again.
| grip the steering wheel tight, my knuckles turning white. The thought of my mother having any influence over
me, over my life, twists in my gut. Ashlyn's draggingback into that nightmare. "How can she even say that?"
| demand. "How can she think Mother will ever control my life again?"
Winona stays quiet beside me, eyes fixed ahead. But she's heard me. She's thinking, processing, just like she
always does.
"And she doesn't trustto take care of the baby," | continue, my voice heating up. "Like I'm skind of
puppet for my mother, incapable of making my own decisions.
Winona finally turns to look at me, her expression tellsshe's about to drop shard truths. "Jayden, we
don't even know if there is a baby. We can't be sure of anything until we have proof."
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I nod, though it doesn't ease the anger. "I know, but if there is. If she's telling the truth... What do we do then?"
Winona's silence weighs heavy, and the tension buildske. Then Winona lets out a sigh and speaks. Ultimately,
the welfare of this baby isn't my responsibility, Jayden. It's your fuck-up. You need to fix it."
Her words surprise me, but she's right. This whole mess with Ashlyn-everything that's happened-it's all on me. |
can't push this off on Winona and expect her to clean it up. No matter what Ashlyn's preference. Is. She's in no
position to make a judgment call like this. "I could really smash something right now."
Winona sighs, rubbing her temples. "I don't know, Jayden. | don't want to keep hashing out maybes. I'll wait for
the facts and deal with that. But you need to understand something-this could push us right back to where we
were before therapy. Right back to the edge." She's right. We've worked hard to get to this point, to build
something solid, and now Ashlyn's delusional mind has us back on the brink.
This situation with Ashlyn, this potential baby, it's a whole new test of our strength.
"I'm so tired of all of this, Jayden. | have Steve MIA, Ashlyn beggingto adopt her child, Mom and Cass, Abby's
health, not to mention trying to rebuild my business. It's all too much right now."
"So, what do we do?" | ask, my voice quieter now. "How do we move forward?"
"We get proof," she says firmly. "We find a way to have Ashlyn checked out, to see if she's really pregnant. And
then... we take it one step at a time."
"And if she is pregnant?" | ask, the question hanging heavy in the air between us.
Winona looks away, her expression unreadable. "You need to be the one to handle that. | can't take on
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187 The Edge
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anymore. | don't want to. Your family has done my head in for years. My family has done my head in for years.
I'm ready to leave all of it behind and go find speace."
Her words sting, but they're fair. I've made mistakes, and now it's tto face the consequences. But | know one
thing-I'm not letting Judy or Ashlyn control my life again. This is my fight, and I'll do whatever it takes to protect
what | have with Winona.
"Let's find out how we can get an outside doctor to test Ashlyn as soon as possible," | say, determination
hardening my voice.
"I mean, Judy is across the other side of the world, and she still has Ashlyn spooked enough to ask her arch
enemy to mother her child. What does that tell you, Jayden?" "That
my mother needs to be stopped in her tracks. But how?"
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"Also, not my call. But we can't just kill her off. As tempting as that thought is."
"I'll handle it."
"What, killing her off?"
"No. But | have Ashlyn's phone and surely there's enough on that to charge Mother with something."
We're on the spage but tension lingers, a reminder that we're far from out of the woods yet.
"Jayden," Winona says softly, her voice cutting through the silence. "I need you to know... I'm with you in this. I'm
not going to let Ashlyn or Judy tear us apart. But that doesn't mean | won't walk away of my own accord if that's
what | need to do for my own sanity." "I want to be the man you need, the man you wantto be."
"That's just it. If | tell you how to be then that isn't really you. You can't keep being who you think anyone wants
you to be. You just have to be you, unapologetically. If that man is a man | want to be with, then all good. If not,
we're friends and co-parents to Abby." "I know," | say, squeezing her hand. "I want you to be withbecause |
am the man you need in your life not any other reason, and | won't push you to change your mind if you do walk
away from us romantically, I'll let you. But we'll always be friends. That's how we started."
"Friends and parents to Abby."
"Always."
It's tto be who | want to be.
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