Page 48 of Timeless

“Yeah, but I didn’t realize you considered my son to be second class!” All this time, how had I not seen it! He cared more about his career than he did about me and Jack. And he would care more for his own children than he did Jack.

“Amber, I didn’t mean it like that.”

I would have married him. I would have spent the rest of my life with him. I would give him children. But I found myself realizing I couldn’t. He would never put Jack first and in my life, Jack came first.

“You know what, Will? I think I’d rather spend the rest of my life married to a man who will love my son.” Angry tears ran down my cheeks. I was hurting because a part of me, a part that I would allow, loved him.

“So, what? You running back to Jackson?” His words were sharp like knives and as if they were knives, they pierced my heart.

“No.”

“Then what’s your plan then?”

What was my plan? My plan was to beg him to drop the case. That had failed. Now, I was going to have to turn to Tae.

I was going to spend the rest of my life tied to Tae. He would do it because he loved me. I would do it because I loved Jack.

“Guess that stopped being your concern when you wouldn’t put me first.”

There was a knock on my bedroom door, and I was a mess. My words were coming out stumbled and coated in pain. My voice was wavering in emotion.

I don’t remember the last time I cried this much. When I thought about it, it would have to be when I was pregnant and missing Jax.

“So, the deal of you marrying me is off the table then?”

There was another knock on my door, louder—as if to try and wake me up. I wasn’t asleep. No, I was having my heart crushed. And my life twisting into a mess one I wouldn’t have been able to recognize a month ago.

“If you really loved me, you would have dropped the case as soon as I was in danger.” It was a fact. “You don’t love me.”

He went silent.

“And you don’t love Jack,” I added.

Love was unconditional. Love was putting someone else first. If he loved me or Jack, he would have dropped the case or at the very least passed it on. Not make it his mission to put the Matthews brothers behind bars.

I was breathing sharply into the phone as if I had just been in a physical fight with someone—having your heart squeezed and the love you thought you had wiped out did that to you.

I was a mess. A shaking, trembling, crying mess. And Will had done this to me. Imagine what he would have done if he had my whole heart.

I thanked myself for having those boundaries and fears. Because I had been right in the end to have them.

“I’ll come see you when I settle this case. Maybe when you realize I won’t be getting your son killed, you will rethink your decision.”

“Fuck you, Will.” I got up when there was another loud knock on my door. I flicked the lights off, only the glow of the television casting light in the room. “I’ll leave your stuff at your house.”

“Amber, you aren’t being reasonable.”

My hand landed on my doorknob. “I am being reasonable. Drop the case. Not because I’ll marry you but because you love me.” Was I being unreasonable? I didn’t think I was. If he loved me, he would do it.

“I can’t.”

Disappointment flooded me. That piece of heart he’d had—well, he destroyed it. I’m glad I never let him fully in. I’m glad I never really loved him. And I’m thankful as fuck I didn’t marry him.

“I’m done.” I hung up and opened my door. Whoever it was, wanted my attention. I stood back in the darkness of my room. If anyone saw me right now, they would be asking who died. And the answer was my future. The future I thought I had with Will and Jack.

Now my only option was to move to the UK. To be with Tae.

At least Tae loved me. And Jack. Unconditionally.

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