We Will Love Again – Episode 25
Noah could not look away from the date on the financial statement. Three weeks after he left, Alaina had buried her mother. She had never called him, and because of the lie, he would not have answered kindly if she had.
“Why is this in my personnel file?” Alaina asked when she saw the document. Humiliation replaced relief over being cleared. “My medical debt has nothing to do with the acquisition.”
Aaron explained that the page had been attached to the leaked files, likely to embarrass her further. Noah handed it back without mentioning how deeply the numbers had cut.
“The investigation will continue,” he told Joey. “Abigale is suspended from confidential work until we know who accessed the tablet.”
Joey agreed, shaken by how quickly an office rivalry had become a security breach. Evonne avoided Alaina’s eyes, no longer certain the plan would remain hidden.
Alaina gathered the documents and retreated to the archive room. She needed space from staring coworkers and from Noah’s new expression, which held pity she could not bear.
He followed. “You should have told me your mother died.”
She turned sharply. “When? After I called you worthless and left with another man? What right did I have to ask you to come back?”
“You knew I loved her too.” Noah remembered reading beside the hospital bed, bringing Alaina meals, and promising they would face the illness together. “I would have wanted to say goodbye.”
“And that was exactly what I was trying to prevent.” Tears gathered despite her effort to contain them. “One goodbye would have become another reason to stay.”
Noah’s anger weakened beneath the scale of what she had carried. She had lost her mother, her fiancé, and any chance to explain either grief. He had lost her, but he had not been alone.
“I’m sorry,” he said. The words sounded inadequate, yet they were the first apology he had offered since returning.
Alaina looked at him in surprise. For one fragile moment, neither revenge nor secrecy stood between them. Then a voice came from the doorway.
“How touching.” Nora entered the archive room, having returned despite Noah’s warning. Her gaze fell on the financial statement in Alaina’s hand.
“Leave,” Noah said. He stepped toward his mother, but Alaina stopped him.
Nora ignored the command. “Debt has always been part of her life. If you let guilt pull you back, it will become part of yours too.”
Alaina’s shame became anger. “I kept the promise you demanded for five years. I never contacted him, even when my mother died.”
The words struck Nora silent. Noah turned slowly toward Alaina. Until that moment, he had known his mother pressured her, but not that the silence afterward had been an enforced promise.
“What promise?” he asked. Neither woman answered, and the pause gave him all the confirmation he needed.
Noah faced his mother with a coldness Alaina had never seen. “You didn’t just tell her to leave me,” he said. “You made sure she could never come back.”
