Page 23 of Her Billionaire's Baby Secret

Kane’s face seemed a bit white for a moment, but Sariah couldn’t understand why he might seem upset by what she’d just said.

“You seem like the type that expects a full disclosure in a relationship,” Kane said.

“I get it that some people may not feel comfortable sharing everything, but this secret was pretty huge. It was a deal breaker that he didn’t tell me.”

“What was he hiding from you?”

“He was addicted to painkillers,” Sariah said. “I had no idea. I didn’t find out until he was in a car accident, and it got worse from there.”

“How did it get worse?” Kane asked.

“He’d been high when he got in the accident.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“He ended up killing a man.”

“That’s horrible,” Kane said. “I can’t imagine being responsible for a tragedy like that. How did you deal with it?”

“I blamed myself. I should have been more aware of the fact that he was keeping something big from me. If I’d been able to figure out that he’d been using I could have helped him get to rehab. It could have prevented his death.”

“You can’t blame yourself for his mistakes. That’s entirely on him,” Kane said.

“You’re not the first person to tell me that,” Sariah said. “I get the idea behind it, but it doesn’t seem like my heart can understand it. When you hear about a tragedy like that, you want to have been able to prevent it somehow. Like if I’d been able to monitor Elliot better, maybe it wouldn’t have happened. I could have stopped him from getting behind the wheel somehow.”

“None of this was your fault,” Kane said.

“Well, now you know why I’m not eager to get into another relationship. I don’t know how to trust a man anymore.”

“Not all guys are like Elliot.”

“I get that, I really do. But I can’t trust my own judgement. I thought he was such a great guy who had his life together. I had no idea how much he was hiding from me.”

“So you broke it off with him when you found out the truth?”

“Not at first. I was too shocked to do anything. And he was hurt. He had a broken collarbone from the accident. I stayed with him and nursed him back to health. It took a couple of weeks for the shock of what he’d been hiding to wear off. By then, I realized there was nothing left of the relationship. If I can’t build a strong foundation of trust with a person, how are we supposed to get through the really hard stuff together?”

“That’s something I completely understand. When I found out Orchid was cheating on me, I realized she was keeping secrets from me too. It’s hard to trust again after something like that hits you so hard.”

“It feels impossible. My therapist says I have PTSD, and I think everyone’s a liar with big scary secrets. I’ve been struggling ever since I broke things off with Elliot. A few months ago my grandma suggested I start therapy. It’s been helping, but I’m not entirely healed. Obviously. So now you know why I’m alone. I’m broken, Kane. I don’t know if I’ll ever be fixed.”

“We’re all broken in some way. And that’s okay. We just have to make it to the next day. That’s all we can worry about right now.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Kane reached across the table and took her hand. “You’re an incredible woman, Sariah. You’ll figure this all out.”

She warmed at his words, and her pulse picked up at his touch. “Thanks, Kane. It’s nice to talk to you about this stuff. We haven’t had a serious conversation, something on this level, in a long time.”

“I hope you know I’m still here for you. You can come to me with your problems anytime.”

She squeezed his outstretched hand. “Thank you. That means a lot.”

Sariah hadn’t expected this kindness from Kane. He’d been a huge support to her in high school, but that had been a long time ago. It was like she had her old friendship back with him. She was okay with that. But what if he decided he wanted to fully return to what they’d had? She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. But the idea wasn’t completely horrible to her either. Maybe it was possible.

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