Page 112 of Worth Every Risk

Fucking hell. I’m torn between wanting to hold Charlie in my arms and yell at Aries for hiding this.What was she thinking?“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Charlie scoffs. “Like you’d give a fuck.”

“If they hurt you, I care. How often was it happening? At school?”

“Yes, at school,” Charlie says. “And often enough.”

“The weed?” I ask.

“Yes,” Charlie says. “They planted it. Made it look like it was mine.”

This is a total shitshow. “Why didn’t you tell anyone? Why didn’t you say something? Barney called me. Said he thought something was wrong.”

Charlie stiffens, just slightly. He says nothing.

“We can sort this out,” I reassure him, straining to keep my anger in check. Charlie doesn’t need me losing it right now. “I’ll speak to your mother.”

Charlie drags breaths through flared nostrils. “She definitely won’t give a shit. I don’t want you to do anything about it. I’m fine. This is why I didn’t tell you in the first place. Do you really think anything you can do or say is going to make a difference? You only make things worse. Like this.” He waves a hand between me and Aries, disgust warping his lips. “Can I go now?”

I know I shouldn’t let him swear at me, or talk about his mother like that, even though she deserves every word of it. But I don’t feel like I can reprimand him… not when my actions have caused him pain. Not when I’ve allowed my feelings for Aries to dictate my behaviour.

And he has a point; not to excuse the twins, but my recklessness, myinfatuationwith Aries, gave them fodder to tease my son. If I felt like a bad father before, I feel worse now.

All that sneaking around… hiding it all from him on the boat… on the holiday. What was the point? Maybe we should’ve come clean back then. Or not done it at all.

And the whole time she was keeping something this important from me…

“Can I go?” Charlie repeats.

I nod my head and Charlie gets up.

Aries shrivels in her seat, and the sight of her makes anger boil in my blood, but it’s tempered by the acidic flavour ofdisappointment, eating away at my organs like a bitter type of sadness.How could she have hidden this from me?If she respected me, cared about me, wouldn’t she have told me?

I wait until Charlie’s footsteps have disappeared up the stairs before I speak. “Your job is to take care of my kids,” I say, very,veryslowly. “You have a duty of care to them. To me. You’ve known someone was hurting my son for what… three weeks? A month?”

Aries’ chin trembles and a single tear rolls down her cheek as she nods. “I’m sorry.”

In spite of everything, all I want to do is wipe that tear from her face, hold her in my arms, and kiss her.I want to make all of this go away. But I can’t, because this time, sorry isn’t good enough. “Tell me everything.”

She drags her eyes to mine, and I know whatever she’s about to say she doesn’t want to admit. “I walked in on him after you told me to bring him to breakfast on the deck. He was covered in bruises, but he promised me it would never happen again. That the boys who did it had left the school. He’d never see them again. He said it was over. I had no idea he was talking about Mark Charlton’s kids. I didn’t know it was boys he’d see again, boys he would have to live with when he stays with his mother. I wanted to tell you at the time, but you wouldn't let me talk. You swore at me in front of your brothers and Kate. I was angry with you. And when I went back to fetch Charlie, he wanted me to promise not to tell you. He didn’t want to ruin the holiday. I didn’t think…”

How could she hold this back?I close my eyes, fisting my left hand over my mouth. When I open my eyes again, Aries’ tearful gaze meets mine. “I’m really trying not to lose my temper with you right now, but those excuses are paper fucking thin, Aries.”

“I know.” Tears are rolling freely down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”

I sigh and run my tongue over my top teeth. “What happens now? What do I do now?”

She stares at me across the table, looking like she’s about to shatter into a thousand pieces. “What do you mean?” she whispers.

Christ, I don’t know what I mean. I don’t know if I mean with Charlie or with her. With us. With her continuing to work in a role I’m not sure I can trust her to do.

I thought we were building something real here, but this feels like a betrayal.

My chest is tight, each breath a struggle it shouldn’t be. “This was a bad call, Aries.”

She swallows so hard I can see every muscle working up her neck. “I know.”

“What were you thinking?”

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