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“What did she do, Ty?”

Closing my eyes, I swallowed, the lump in my throat getting bigger. “She was pregnant.” Squeezing my eyes closed harder, I managed to get out, “she aborted my baby and didn’t even tell me.”

“Oh, Ty, I’m so sorry.” Her soft voice was closer now. I felt her move and sit between my legs, the warmth of her body against mine comforting me.

Opening my eyes, I looked down at her as she gripped my face in her hands. “She shouldn’t have done that to you Ty, it wasn’t her place to do that without your consent. I’m so sorry,” she said with venom in her voice.

Nodding my head, I agreed with her. I should have had just as much of a say as she did. Yeah it was her body but that was my baby, too.

I’m not opposed to abortions, far from it. If a woman has been forced upon, or there’s a medical reason, then yeah, so be it.

But Serena? She did it because she didn’t want to ruin her figure. She thought that I’d understand that. I didn’t know what world she was living in, where she could possibly think that I’d have been fine with her aborting our baby because of her precious figure.

“It hurts,” I grunted. “It still hurts after all these years.”

“It will,” Kay whispered, her arms wrapping around my shoulders. I nuzzled into her neck and for the first time ever, I let it all out.

I cried.

That’s something that I’d never done. I’d never let myself grieve, sure it was only the size of a peanut, but that peanut was half of me and would have grown into a beautiful baby.

“I got you,” Kay whispered in my ear.

For the first time, I truly believed she had got me. That I had someone who I could lean on, that wouldn’t judge me or take advantage of me.

It was so hard to watch Ty break down like that. To see him completely come apart because of something Serena had done, for her own selfish reasons.

If she wasn’t already locked up I would have gone and given her a piece of my mind. She’d been asking to see Ty and I told him that if he wanted to visit her then I was fine with that.

He’d point blank refused and said, “I never want to see her face again.”

After that, I didn’t bring it up again. I wasn’t going to press the issue, not when I didn’t want him to go and see her in the first place.

We’d all had more time on our hands now that the case was over, which meant we got to take on fun cases. At least, they did. Me and Ty had taken a little time off and we spent most days up the clearing, just spending time together.

I was still healing and spending a lot of time with Corey and Ava. She was a little better now and was moving in with Elena and Trevor tomorrow. Which would mean that the house would have one less person in it. I didn’t know how I felt about that.

It sounded strange but I liked having a house full of people. It meant that there was always someone to talk to or to bake with. I hated being on my own, I hated the silence that it brought. It was another thing to add to the list of things that Max had caused. But I was determined to get over it, even if it meant sitting in a room by myself all day.

It had been great seeing Eli get to know his Uncle, they’d become inseparable, but luckily, Luke was a part of that too. He and Corey had become fast friends, mostly thanks to Eli.

Rolling over, I watched Ty as he slept. He looked so peaceful and I didn’t want to disturb him so I rolled out of bed, tip-toed across the floor and closed the door behind me with a soft click.

I went down the stairs quietly, not wanting to wake anybody else up. Even though I’d been sleeping better than I had before, I still couldn’t sleep for the whole night. Like clockwork, I’d wake up just before the sun rose.

I gasped as I walked into the kitchen, the floor so cold on my bare feet. Heading straight for the coffee pot, I switched it on and waited for it to finish brewing, getting lost in the view out of the window.

It was so beautiful to watch the sun rise, the way it climbed over the trees and made the dew on the branches sparkle, was amazing.

“Morning,” a soft voice whispered from the doorway.

Turning to face Ava, I smiled. “Morning, you want some coffee?”

This had become our morning routine, we’d started to meet down here around this time and at some stage, Corey would always join us. He was so used to sleeping in short bursts that he never slept all night.

“Please,” she said, walking over to the table and sitting down.

I poured us both a cup and sat down next to her. We never talked much but she was slowly opening up to me. Each day, she would tell me something else, no matter how small it was, it was still a step in the right direction.