?Chapter 1043:


    “What is it?” Freya asked, clearly intrigued.


    “Well…” Kendra trailed off, suddenly stopping herself.


    Freya looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue.


    “That name… he’s hated it. Since he was five, he banned the whole family from using it,” Kendra said, half amused. “Ethan used to tease him with it all the time. Every time he said it, Ellis would deck him.”


    Freya raised an eyebrow. Ellis was throwing punches over a nickname?


    “If you really want to know, why not ask him yourself?” Kendra suggested.


    “I tried. He just says ‘Eli’ and shuts it down.”


    Kendra pursed her lips.


    Freya didn’t press further.


    “He probably thinks you’ll tease him if you find out,” Kendra suggested knowingly. “I actually picked names for both a boy and a girl,” Kendra added. “I was hoping to have one of each. But Ellis was it.”


    Caldwell had insisted on no more kids after that. Said he couldn’t bear to watch her go through another difficult pregnancy.


    “What was the girl’s name?” Freya asked, trying a roundabout approach.


    Maybe it would give her a clue.


    Kendra cleared her throat, looking a little embarrassed. “I can’t tell you. You’ll figure out his nickname in a heartbeat if I do.”


    Freya narrowed her eyes, suspicious now.


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    “Pester Eli a bit. He’ll tell you eventually,” Kendra said with a mischievous smile. “In all these years, I’ve never seen him care about anyone the way he cares about you.”


    Freya imagined herself asking Ellis.


    He’d probably shoot her a look and say, “What’s in it for me?” And honestly, she didn’t have much to bargain with.


    Kendra broke her thoughts. “You know what he once told me?”


    “What?” Freya asked.


    “He said if he hadn’t held back back then… maybe you wouldn’t have ended up in that bad rtionship.” Kendra leaned in. “He’s been in love with you for years, even from a long time ago.”


    Freya froze, momentarily stunned. Her mind shed back to the vi incident.


    If she counted from then, Ellis had been into her for at least four years.


    “That watch he always wears—is it the one you gave him?” Freya blinked, caught off guard.


    “Yeah. How’d you know?”


    Kendra gave a soft smile. “Because no one else could ever get him to ditch that old one.”


    She added gently, “Two years ago, I saw that his old watch was busted and got him a new one. He wouldn’t even take it out of the box. Said he’d rather fix the broken one.”


    Freya thought back to the time she gave Ellis that watch. He’d asked if she ever wondered about the story behind his old one.


    She’d pressed him for details, but he brushed it off.


    Later, she’d asked when he first started having feelings for her. He brought up the watch again—but she couldn’t remember ever giving it to him.


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