Page 28 of Curve Balls and Second Chances (Pickwick Pirate Queens #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

D eclan stood behind the counter of his veterinary office, sorting through a box of dog vitamins when the door opened and Briana swept in.

She wore a cream-colored dress and a smile that could melt asphalt.

“I brought you something,” she said, holding up a folder.

“What is it?”

“Just… some context,” she said innocently. “ A few things I thought you should see. About Rose .”

Declan didn’t take it.

“What kind of things?”

“Oh, nothing dramatic.” She placed the folder on the counter. “ Just history. A few diary passages, some old messages. Little reminders that the version of Rose you’re seeing now? It’s not the full picture.”

He narrowed his eyes. “ Why would you give me this?”

“Because I like you,” she said simply. “ And I hate watching good men get dragged into messy lies. I’ve been on the losing end of that story before.”

“Were you?” he asked, coldly.

She tilted her head. “ Are you saying you don’t want to know the truth?”

Declan looked down at the folder. His jaw flexed.

“No,” he said finally. “ I want to hear it from her. Not you.”

Briana’s smile faltered just a hair. Then it came back, brighter than ever.

“Suit yourself. Just don’t say I didn’t try.”

She turned and walked out, heels clicking like punctuation marks.

Declan stared at the folder.

And even though he didn’t open it?—

Doubt had already crept in.

Rose was restocking the coffee shop’s muffin bin when the bell above the door rang. She looked up with a practiced smile—one that faltered the moment she saw Declan standing there.

He looked tired. More serious than usual. And he was holding a manila folder.

Her stomach dropped.

“Hey,” she said cautiously. “ Everything okay?”

Declan didn’t answer right away. He stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind him. The bakery was quiet—between lunch and after dinner rush, with only the hum of the cooler to fill the silence.

“I think you already know why I’m here,” he said.

She wiped her hands on a towel. “ That folder. Briana ?”

He nodded once.

“She came by the office. Told me you weren’t being honest. Said this”—he lifted the folder—“would show me who you really are.”

Rose swallowed hard. “ Did you read it?”

“No,” he said. “ Not yet.”

Her breath caught.

“But I thought about it,” he admitted. “ Because I like you, Rose . A lot. And I didn’t want to believe she had anything I didn’t already know.”

She leaned against the counter, feeling every ounce of the weight she carried.

“She’s trying to ruin me,” Rose said quietly.

“ She’s always been good at it. She was my best friend, and when she realized I loved Acen back in high school, really loved him, she made sure to get to him and mess that up with a pack of lies.

And when he left… when everything fell apart, she didn’t stop.

She twisted the story. Kept twisting it, hoping it would break me. ”

Declan nodded slowly. “ Acen said something happened. That she was behind it. But it’s hard to know what’s truth and what’s just… emotion.”

“You want the truth?” Rose’s voice was steadier now. “ I was pregnant. I lost the baby. And she knew—she used it against me to keep me quiet.”

Declan’s expression shifted from skeptical to stunned. “ You … what?”

“I never told anyone,” she said. “ I couldn’t. I was ashamed. I thought I’d done something wrong. And when Briana made it clear she’d turn it into a town scandal, I just… shut it all down. I stayed here. I let her win.”

Declan’s gaze dropped to the folder in his hands.

“I didn’t want to believe her,” he said. “ But I also didn’t want to feel like a fool.”

“You’re not,” Rose said softly. “ But you deserve the full story. Even if it’s ugly.”

He looked at her for a long moment. Then , without a word, he turned and walked to the trash can near the door.

He dropped the folder in without opening it.

And walked back to her.

“I believe you,” he said.

Rose blinked. “ Even without proof?”

“Especially without it. Because it’s not just what you said—it’s how you said it. And because I’ve seen who Briana is when she thinks no one’s watching.”

Her throat tightened.

“I’m sorry she tried to use me,” he added. “ And I’m sorry I didn’t come to you first.”

“You’re here now.”

He gave her a small, sincere smile. “ And I’m not going anywhere.”