Nichole Richards is currently living her best life.
She's single and mingling, has an amazing group of friends, and business is booming for her bakery business. Things only take a turn for the worst after she discovers that someone from her past ha...
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29 | AFTER
There have been tears, many tears, and a lot of sleepless nights for Nichole.
Two weeks have passed since the kidnapping incident, fourteen long and exhausting days, and still, it feels like it all happened just yesterday. Kade's death—his murder—is one thing that loves to replay itself out in Nichole's nightmares.
At the time, she hadn't been able to properly process him being killed given everything that had been happening around her. But now, in the quiet of Ademar's condo, it has had nothing but free reign to taunt her. And after waking up screaming in her sleep for the fifth night in a row, Taehyun finally suggested they see a trauma therapist.
Online reviews led them to Penelope Hastings, someone who'd later turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Their sessions with Penelope, some together and some separate, lifted weights off Nichole's shoulders that she hadn't known she'd been carrying. Taehyun felt a bit lighter these days as well. Ademar was proud of them both.
Admitting you have a problem is one thing. Taking the steps to help solve that problem, or at least to help slay the demons who whisper to you in the shadows trying to make you feel as if life isn't worth living is something else entirely. Ademar was extremely proud of his lovers, and on his own time, he'd also follow behind them to seek help.
Help that would maybe free him of the demons he thought he had already defeated.
"I think I'm ready to talk about it." Nichole sits crossed-legged in the middle of Ademar's bed, a cup of hot cocoa resting between her hands. It's what she focused her eyes on while speaking, the tiny white marshmallows slowly being eaten away by the heat.
"Are you sure?" Ademar rises to her right. Taehyun rises to her left. They both look at her with wide eyes. Both of them desperate to help her heal. "We really don't have to talk about it. Maybe a few more sessions with Penelope will—"
"I know what I want," Nichole gently cuts him off, speaking softly. "I wasn't ready then, but I'm ready now. I want to talk about it. I want to know how you were able to rescue me and Tae like that, and I... I want to know if you also had to do what I did."
Do what she did. Kill someone. The two words that she can say in her mind but not out loud. Not yet. Penelope and Nichole still have a long way to go.
"Okay." Ademar sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I should say this first—I'm sorry for lying to you both. I gave off the impression that I am a good man. The truth is that I am not. I have flaws. Many flaws. They've been with me since I was a child, and I'm not sure if I'll ever grow out of them."
Nichole finally looks up from her cup of hot cocoa. She meets Ademar's sad brown eyes, briefly, and then he tears them away from her.
"What flaws?" she asks, genuinely curious. "You're perfect to me."
