(Jasper’s POV)


    The call with Mark Winston leaves me drained.


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    When Inded in that orphanage fifteen years ago, I vowed to forget all and everyone rted to me from the past.


    Because unlike the other orphans who didn’t have names or parents, I had both a name. And


    a mother.


    Only my mother died early, leaving that man to dump me in an orphanage so he wouldn’t have to deal with raising me.


    So Scarlett and Lily are my real family. My only family.


    And if I’m to have any chance at getting them back, I must own up to my past mistakes, and uncover the person trying to tear me away from them.


    I drive back to Scarlett’s apartment with my heart hammering against my ribs. It’s evening now, the sky painted in shades of orange and pink. The kind of sunset she used to love watching from our bedroom window.


    Three years of marriage, and only now do I realize I never got to watch the sunset with her.


    I knock on her door, knowing she won’t want to see me. Knowing I don’t deserve her time or


    attention. But I have to try.


    “Jasper?” She opens the door just a c***k, her face guarded. “What are you doing here?”


    “I want to see Lily.” It’s not aplete lie–I do want to see our daughter. But it’s also not the whole truth. I need to see Scarlett too. Need to start fixing what I broke. “Please.”


    She hesitates, and for a moment I think she’ll m the door in my face. Instead, she steps back with a sigh. “She’s in her room. But once you see her, I want you to leave.”


    “Understood.”


    The apartment feels different tonight. Warmer somehow. Maybe it’s the way themps cast soft light across the walls, or the way children’s books are scattered on the coffee table. It feels like a home.


    A home I should have been a part of.


    I find Lily in her bedroom, surrounded by coloring books and crayons. She looks up when I


    :


    < Chapter 68


    walk in, her face lighting up with joy.


    “Daddy!” She scrambles to her feet, throwing herself at me.


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    I catch her, lifting her into my arms and breathing in her sweet scent. Thank God. Thank God she’s here, safe and healthy and mine. If I never have another chance with Scarlett, if I’ve lost her forever, at least I’ll always have this little girl.


    My flesh and blood. A living, breathing symbol of our love.


    “Did you have fun at the park today?” I ask, settling into the chair beside her bed.


    “Uh–huh! Uncle Dorian pushed me on the swings really high.” She shows me a crayon drawing of stick figures. “Look, this is me and Mama and Uncle Dorian at the park.”


    My chest tightens. Three stick figures holding hands under a crooked sun. A family. But I’m not in the picture.


    “It’s beautiful, sweetheart.” I smooth her dark hair. “Sounds like you had a good time.”


    “It was the best day ever.” She climbs into myp, her small hands touching my face. “Daddy, when will we go to the park together? Just you and me and Mama?”


    The innocent question hits me like a punch to the gut. Me, Lily, and Scarlett? How do I tell my four–year–old daughter that her mother doesn’t want to be around me anymore? That I ruined everything we could’ve had before she was even born?


    My voicees out hoarse. “That’s… that’s up to Mama to decide.”


    Lily frowns. “Did you make Mama sad?”


    “Yes. Daddy made Mama very sad.” I admit.


    “Then you should say sorry.”


    If only it were that simple. If only sorry could fix the years of neglect, the broken promises, the way I chose Virginia over the woman I should have protected.


    “I’m trying, sweetheart. But sometimes grown–ups make mistakes that take a long time to fix.”


    She nods solemnly, like she understands. Then she kisses my cheek with her sticky lips. “I love you, Daddy.”


    “I love you too, Lily. More than you’ll ever know.”


    I tuck her into bed, reading her a princess story. When she finally falls asleep, I stand in her


    < Chapter 68


    doorway for a long moment, just watching her breathe.


    She’s beautiful. Absolutely perfect. And she’s my daughter.


    Whatever it takes, I won’t lose her. I won’t lose either of them.


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    When I return to the living room, Scarlett is standing by the window with her arms crossed. She doesn’t turn around when she hears my footsteps.


    “Now that you’ve seen Lily, can you leave?”


    The dismissal stings, but I deserve it. Her coldness, her walls, herpleteck of trust in <ol><li>me. </li></ol>


    But I can’t leave. Not yet.


    “Scarlett.” I take a deep breath, knowing this might be my only chance toe clean. “I need to apologize to you for everything I did in the past.”


    “Apologies don’t fix anything, Jasper.” She finally turns to face me, and the pain in her eyes nearly brings me to my knees. “They’re just empty words to rub salt in the wounds.”


    “You’re right. They are just words.” I step closer, careful not to invade her space. “But I need you to understand why I was always so harsh with you. Why I… why I treated you the way I


    did.”


    She shakes her head. “I don’t want to-”


    “I didn’t believe you loved me.”


    The words slip out of my mouth in a rush, stopping her cold. She stares at me, confusion flickering across her features.


    “You were beautiful, Scarlett. Smart, kind. You came from money, from a family who adored you. And I was nobody. An orphan with nothing to offer except the grades that got me into college. I didn’t believe that someone like you could actually love someone like me.”


    “Jasper-”


    “No, let me finish.” I run my hands through my hair, hating myself for the memory. “When your father found me, when he made that proposition… to fund my education, only if I agreed to marry his daughter after graduation, my pride was crushed, Scarlett. Completely destroyed.”


    Her face goes pale. “What are you talking about?”


    “James came to me during my junior year. Said he’d been watching me, that he thought I’d be a good match for you. But the way he phrased it…” I close my eyes, remembering the


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    humiliation. “He made it clear that marrying you was the price for his help. That without his money, I’d never finish school, never amount to anything.”


    “No.” She shakes her head, backing away from me. “<i>No</i>, that’s <i>not</i>… Papa wouldn’t…”


    “But he did, Scarlett. And I was angry, so angry that I let myself believe you were part of it. That you saw me as some charity case you could marry and fix.”


    “But I loved you.” Her voice breaks on the words. “I loved you from the moment I saw you in that hallway freshman year. I thought… I thought you wanted to marry me too.”


    “I did want to marry you. God, before that damn proposition, I wanted it more than anything.” The admission tears from my throat. “But after, I hated myself for wanting you. Hated that I needed your father’s money, that I wouldn’t be able to lift my head in front of you like a man after signing that contract.” <fn7e19> N?w ?ovel chapt?rs are published on </fn7e19>


    She’s crying now, silent tears streaming down her face. “So you punished me for it. For three years, you punished me for the decisions you and James made.”


    “Yes.” I don’t try to defend myself. Can’t defend what I did to her. “I was cruel to you because I was cruel to myself. Because every time I looked at you, I was reminded that I wasn’t enough. That I’d never be enough.”


    “Oh, god! If I’d known… If I’d only known James forced you to marry me, I would’ve never insisted on marrying you.” She cries, and thatpletely shatters my heart.


    Violet Moon


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