Page 172 of Beautiful Storm

“They are and they weren’t bad parents. But they made a few bad decisions. Yes, most hurt Lainey more than me, but still… Let’s not do that. Anymore.”

“Agreed. And—”

“I need to tell you something. Well, two things.” I grimace as my stomach knots.

Amelia frowns but she nods before trying to sit up a bit straighter. “Whatever it is, you know I’d prefer to hear it than never know.”

“I do. But I’m still sorry.”

“What is it?” She sounds panicky, making me rush.

“Your dad was Jake’s source for the fire. I don’t have the details, but Adrian overheard Jake telling Tom.”

“Jesus Christ.” Amelia’s face scrunches before she huffs out a laugh. “I guess that makes cutting him out of my life a hell of a lot easier. But why would he do that? To hurt me, to…” She trails off, her eyes watering before a lone tear falls down her cheek.

“Money?” I guess, though I have no idea. “Maybe it’s always been about money. Vicki’s mom was wealthy and—”

“You might be right. Maybe that’s why I’ve never really cared about money. Maybe deep down, I knew not to make it a motivator for me.”

“Could be.” I’d prefer it was money. I’d hate to find out he hurt his daughter to get back at her or something. If he’s been trying to talk to her all these years, it must have been hard when she never got in touch. “Question. Why’d you keep his last name if you never planned to reconnect with him?”

Amelia’s body sags as she blows out a breath. “At first, Mom wouldn’t change it. Dad told her she had to change hers, so she kept mine as Rosenberg as a connection to him. But then when I got older, I didn’t want to change it. It was my name as much as it was his. I felt like he’d stolen my childhood, and I didn’t want him to steal my identity too. It’s silly. I know. But—”

“It’s not silly at all. It’s who you are.”

“It was, but now I feel different. Anyway, what’s the second thing?” Amelia nervously nibbles at her bottom lip, cutting into my thoughts while my heart races. I want to ask more, but I cantell she’s not ready to talk about it. And I have a confession to make.

“I…I lit the fire,” I blurt, admitting it out loud for the first time since it happened. “Well, a group of us did.”

Amelia’s jaw drops before she shakes her head. “What?”

“We were messing around, and I guess over the years people had filled the bath with trash, and we lit a fire as a joke.” I step closer, needing to see her reaction. But instead of the anger I expect, she reaches for my hand and nods for me to continue. “While we were watching it burn, I overheard the girls talking about your dare and I got the idea to go up to the attic with you. And to fake the fire. The real fire was contained when I left. The guys were supposed to put it out. But I should have put it out.”

“Why didn’t you tell the police that? You didn’t mean for it to burn—”

“Because we still lit it. Accident or not, we were stupid kids playing with matches. And if I told the police, I wouldn’t only be ruining my future and my career but the future of my teammates too. I know it was a shitty thing to do, and I’ve regretted a lot about that day over the years, but I’d never do that to my friends. They got out of there. The police never knew they’d been inside that house. We fucked up. We made a mistake, but they didn’t deserve to suffer because of it. It’s why I was so desperate to keep it out of the show. I didn’t care about me, but I couldn’t exactly tell you that.”

“The show. God. Do you think Jake knows?”

“He seems to think it was only me, and because of that, I stopped caring if he knew or not. My consequences ceased to matter the second I saw you trembling on the floor of the edit suite. If I knew my confession could take your pain away, I’d do it in a heartbeat and keep my friends out of it. But it’s too late for that. I’ve lied to you, kept things from you, and hurt you so much that I’m just as bad as your dad was. Worse even. But Ipromise I’ll never be that man again. I’m trying and I’m sorry for everything I’ve put you through.”

Amelia squeezes my hand as she smiles. “I know and I’ve forgiven you. We’ve got a new start to life. An amazing future with our daughter. You need to stop apologizing for the past. Having said that, any other secrets you want to share before we begin?”

“Not so much a secret.” I smile. “But Jake was fired. And Adrian said you should press charges against him for locking you in the edit suite.”

“Wow. Okay. That’s a lot to process. Do I have to do it now?”

“I don’t know. I’ll find out. But your recovery is what’s most important.”

“Thank you. Anything else?”

“Nope.” I shake my head. “I’m an open book from now on.”

“Good. Except let's keep the fire a secret between us. I’d rather the police never found out how stupid you are.You lit the fire?What the hell were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t. Turns out, I’m not as smart as people think.”

“I always knew it.” She winks, making me finally laugh.

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