We Will Love Again – Episode 29
Noah read Nora’s ultimatum without replying. Five years earlier, she had forced Alaina to choose between love and his future. Now she demanded that he choose between love and family.
Alaina saw the message reflected in his expression. “You should talk to her.”
“She isn’t asking for a conversation.” Noah locked the screen. “She’s asking for obedience.”
“She’s still your mother.”
“And you’re still protecting her.” Frustration flickered, then faded. “Why?”
Alaina considered the woman who had insulted her mother and stolen years from them. “Because losing someone doesn’t become easier just because they hurt you.”
Noah understood that she was speaking from a funeral he had missed. His anger at Nora remained, but Alaina’s compassion prevented it from becoming simple hatred.
“I won’t let her threaten you again,” he said.
“That sounds too much like the promise you made before Oxford.” Alaina’s gaze steadied. “I don’t need you to sacrifice your family for me. I need you to make honest choices and let me make mine.”
The distinction struck at the oldest flaw in their love. They had both confused protection with secrecy and sacrifice with devotion.
Noah nodded. “Then here is an honest choice. I’m completing the acquisition because Crazy Maple has valuable projects and talented employees. You are one of them.”
Alaina waited, wary of the personal meaning beneath his professional words.
“Your report was the strongest work I’ve seen here,” he continued. “You should lead development after the acquisition.”
“I don’t want a position offered out of guilt.”
“It isn’t.” Noah slid an evaluation across the desk. Aaron’s independent scoring placed her well above the other writers. “You earned it before I knew the truth.”
Recognition warmed a part of Alaina that years of being overlooked had numbed. Yet accepting from Noah risked binding her future to unresolved feelings.
“I need time,” she said.
“Take it.” For once, Noah gave her space without turning the distance into punishment.
That evening, he found Nora waiting in the hotel lobby. She looked composed, but sorrow had replaced the fury in her message.
“I made one mistake,” she said. “Are you really prepared to erase everything I did for you because of her?” Noah looked at the woman who raised him and realized his next answer would define far more than a romance.
