The room held its breath in the silence that followed.
Dave still hadn't let go of her hand. His grip had softened, but something about the way he stared at the wood grain of the table rather than at her told Gina the peace between them was short-lived. She knew him. Knew his stillness. It wasn't calm—it was calculation.
"There's something else, isn't there?" she asked quietly.
He flinched. Just slightly. But it was enough.
"Gina…" He finally met her eyes, and she saw the conflict there—a storm brewing behind dark pupils, an emotional calculus he was still solving. "There's something I haven't told you either."
Her heart sank a little. "Is there someone else?"
"No. It's not that," he said quickly. "There's no one. Not like you."
"But?"
He leaned back, exhaled through his nose, and ran his palm down his jaw. "When my father told you I didn't want you… he wasn't just being cruel. He had leverage. Over me."
Gina's brow furrowed. "What kind of leverage?"
Dave's voice turned low. "A few months before you disappeared, I signed a deal with his label—on his terms. That meant management, contracts, public image… everything. He wanted me single. Marketable. He said you'd ruin my brand. Threatened to bury both our careers if I stayed with you."
Gina's breath caught.
"I fought him," Dave continued, voice bitter. "Told him I didn't care. But then… he found out about the legal trouble your dad was in. Said if I didn't cut you off, he'd leak everything. Destroy your family's name, your reputation. Yours, not mine."
Gina's hands curled into fists in her lap. Her father had been desperate back then—bad investments, silent debt. She'd never known how close they'd come to ruin.
"I thought I was protecting you," he said, looking genuinely tormented. "So I stayed silent. I let him control the narrative. I let him push you out. And I hated myself every second for it."
Gina's chest rose and fell rapidly as she tried to process what she was hearing. "You didn't even try to tell me? Not even a note?"
"I was watched. Every move. My phone was tapped. My email. He had people monitoring everything. I didn't get real freedom until I broke the contract two years ago."
"Two years," she whispered. "And still you didn't come."
"I wanted to," he said. "But then I heard you'd moved on. That you were raising a kid with someone else."
Her head snapped up. "Is that what he told you?"
Dave looked stunned. "You didn't?"
"No. There was never anyone else. I didn't want anyone else."
They both sat there, stunned by the weight of a decade lost to lies. The silence roared louder than any argument.
"So what now?" she asked, voice raw.
He reached for her again, this time more cautiously. "Now… we do it differently. Honestly. No more secrets."
Gina looked into his eyes, searching for the boy she'd once loved and the man he'd become. He was still there—damaged, yes—but not broken. Neither of them were.
"You still want to meet her?" she asked, voice trembling.
He nodded. "More than anything. But Gina… we need to be ready. Because if my father finds out you're back—and that I have a daughter—he won't just sit quietly. He'll come after everything."
Gina swallowed hard. "Then we'll protect her. Together."
Dave gave a fierce nod. "Together."
Outside, the rain had begun to fall. A quiet storm, whispering against the windows like a promise.
Inside, they were two people rebuilding. One secret at a time.
Anyone looking at them would see two people working at rebuilding, however a darker secret loomed .