Page 17 of Secrets of the Past (Secrets of Mustang Island #3)

T he waves hit the shore in long, steady breaths, the sound carrying through the open windows of Paige’s rented beach house. The curtains lifted and fell with the night breeze, stirring the smell of salt and the faint trace of coffee that lingered in the air.

Tripp sat at the small kitchen table, hands wrapped around a mug he hadn’t touched. He stared down at the swirling reflection of the overhead light in the dark liquid, wishing it were strong whiskey instead.

Paige leaned against the counter, arms folded, watching him with that calm steadiness that had always made it impossible for her to lie to him. They’d been friends during high school. Never dated. Never romantically involved, just friends.

“You two finally talked,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

Tripp exhaled slowly, dragging a hand across his jaw. “Yeah.”

“And?”

“And it changes everything.” His voice was rough, words scraping their way out. “All these years, I thought she walked away. I thought she didn’t want me. But she didn’t walk, Paige. She was pushed. Just like me.”

Paige’s eyes softened, but her voice was firm. “That’s what I always thought. The way you both unraveled…it never sat right with me.” She tilted her head. “So now what?”

Tripp blinked at her. “Now what?”

“You’re both standing here, face to face with the truth for the first time in twenty years,” Paige said, pushing away from the counter. “You’ve still got feelings. You’d be a fool to deny it. So I’m asking: what happens if you two find your way back to each other?”

The question landed like a stone in his chest. Tripp shifted back in the chair, his jaw tightening. “That’s not exactly on the table right now. We’re in the middle of a trial.”

Paige pulled out the chair opposite him and sat, propping her chin on her hand.

“Stop dodging, Tripp. I know you. I watched you two fall in love, remember? I was there when you couldn’t keep your hands off each other, when you whispered about the future like you owned it.

You’re not indifferent. Neither is she.”

A muscle worked in his cheek. He didn’t deny it. Couldn’t.

Paige leaned forward. “So I’ll ask again. What happens if you get back together? Because your mother sure as hell isn’t going to welcome her with open arms. And I get the feeling her family wasn’t exactly accepting of you either.”

Tripp’s stomach knotted. He could hear his mother’s voice even now, sharp as a knife: Girls like that always want more than they deserve. He pressed his thumb against the rim of the mug, grounding himself.

“She’ll never accept Nicole,” he admitted. The words tasted bitter. “She didn’t then. She won’t now.”

“Then the question is simple,” Paige said. “Are you willing to watch someone you care about be mistreated by your mother?”

The air seemed to thicken. He swallowed hard. His first instinct was to argue, to say he could handle it, that Nicole was strong enough to handle it too. But Paige’s eyes pinned him down, demanding more than the easy answer. And sadly, there wasn’t one.

Finally, he shook his head. “No. I’m not willing.”

“Good,” Paige said softly. “Because if you can’t stand up to your mother now, you’ll lose Nicole all over again. And this time, she won’t come back.”

Tripp rubbed the back of his neck, the muscles tight.

“You think I don’t know that?” He blew out a bitter laugh.

“Paige, I’ve spent half my life hating her.

Believing she didn’t love me enough to fight.

Do you know what that does to a man? To carry that around while you imagine her building a life without you? ”

How many nights had he lain awake, tormented by the thought of her in another man’s arms?

How many times had her name slipped past his lips in the dark, whispered into the wrong woman’s hair, a ghost he could never banish?

And always—always—he found himself dragged back to the memory of their wedding night, the one perfect moment before it all unraveled.

He had clung to it, cursed it, wished himself back inside it with a desperation that hollowed him out.

Paige’s gaze softened, but she didn’t flinch. “And now you know the truth.”

“Yeah. That my mother stole her from me.” He looked down at his hands, flexing them open and closed.

“It’s not just about losing Nicole. It’s about losing us.

The life we should have had. The years that should have been ours.

Graduating from college together. Going to law school, passing the bar, and having a family.

By now, we should have had the two-point-five kids we talked about.

It may be too late for a family, but damn, I want a little girl with her coloring and a son with her eyes. Damn them!”

The words lodged in his throat, thick and aching. He had never spoken them aloud, never allowed himself to even think them fully. But now that they were out, he couldn’t stop.

“I remember that night,” he said, voice low.

“I remember cleaning out the Mustang, shining it up, making it perfect because I thought I was driving her into forever. She was going to wear that white sundress; she thought it was silly, but she still wore it because she wanted to look like a bride. And then…our wedding night. The next morning, we promised to bring our parents together. But I was a fool. I should never have gotten into that limo.”

“Could you have stopped your parents?”

“Probably not,” he said. “But I could have refused.”

He trailed off, the memory slicing open like a wound.

Paige reached across the table, resting her hand on his. “You weren’t a fool. You were betrayed. By the people who should have loved you both the most.”

His throat tightened. He looked away, blinking hard against the burn in his eyes.

Paige’s voice was softer now. “You’ve always been strong, Tripp.

Always. But this…this is your weakness. And if you want Nicole back, if you even want the chance, you have to decide if you’re willing to fight your mother this time.

Not argue. Not push back a little. Fight.

Because Suzanne Masterson won’t give up control without blood. ”

Her words landed with brutal clarity. He could picture it already, Nicole in his mother’s presence, being dismissed with that icy disdain, diminished in every possible way. And Nicole wouldn’t take it silently. She’d fight back. Which meant the war would be constant.

Tripp dragged in a deep breath. “Then I’ll have to choose Nicole. Every time.”

Paige’s lips curved into the faintest smile. “Good. Because she deserves nothing less. And so do you.”

The silence stretched, broken only by the ocean beyond the windows. For the first time in years, Tripp felt like he’d said something true. Something final.

But it didn’t make him feel lighter. It made him feel the weight of what was coming.

Because he knew a war was inevitable, one with his mother, maybe even with Nicole’s parents.

Lines had already been drawn, and soon they would all be forced to choose.

Either they accepted him and Nicole together, found a way to ask for forgiveness and move on, or they could walk away and stay gone.

As for him, there was no choice to make.

Right now, all he wanted was Nicole. The rest of them, their judgment, their power, their lies, be damned.

He looked at Paige. “She told me tonight, she won’t see me. Not until after the trial.”

“Smart,” Paige said. “It keeps the lines clean. You’re both professionals, and the jury doesn’t need to see anything that looks like collusion.”

“It’s hell,” he muttered.

“It’s temporary. You’ve waited twenty years, what’s a few more days?

” Paige corrected. She leaned back, studying him.

“The bigger question is what happens after? If you two manage to dig through this mess and come out standing, what then? Are you ready to let go of the Masterson legacy if it means keeping her?”

Tripp’s chest tightened. The firm. The family name. Everything he had been told mattered. He thought of his mother’s voice again: You’ll thank me one day.

Since his father’s death, the law firm had been his anchor, his duty, the legacy he was bound to protect.

But standing here now, none of it mattered.

He would walk away from every polished boardroom, every cent of his inheritance, if it meant a life with Nicole.

They could carve out their own future, stripped of expectations and family chains.

He didn’t care about the firm, the money, or the name he’d been raised to revere.

Nicole was all that mattered—she always had been.

And then he thought of Nicole’s eyes across the courtroom. Fire. Hurt. Unyielding strength. The woman he wanted to spend forever with.

“Yes,” he said finally, the word rough and certain. “If it comes to it, yes.”

Paige nodded slowly, as if she’d been waiting to hear him say it. “Then maybe you’ve finally grown into the man she always saw in you. The man I didn’t see, but she did.”

Tripp sat back, breath leaving him in a long exhale. Outside, the ocean kept its steady rhythm, the same way it had when they were teenagers sneaking kisses on the beach. Only now, the years between them stretched wide, heavy with what had been stolen.

But for the first time in decades, Tripp felt something other than anger.

He felt resolve. He felt hope. He felt an almost giddy anticipation.

Tomorrow, the trial would continue. Tomorrow, he would have to stand across from Nicole, both of them fighting for opposite sides.

But tonight, he had made his choice. And he wasn’t going to let anyone, not his mother, not the Masterson name, not the past, not even her parents, take her away again.