"Delilah," I said. "I can't change what I did. But I want to take care of you. Of the baby. I won't disappear. I won't run."

"You think you can just say that and it'll fix anything?"

"No," I said. "But I mean it. I want to be here. Whatever it costs."

"You sound like you think you can have everything," she said. "You want me and them. You want to keep all of it."

I didn't answer right away. "It's not about wanting everything," I said quietly. "It's about not betraying the people who trust me."

Her tone hardened. "And what about betraying me?"

"I already did that," I said. "And I'll regret it every day. But if I abandon them now, I'd be betraying them. I'd be betraying everything I stood for. Everything I said I'd protect."

"You call that loyalty?" she asked, disbelief heavy in her voice. "Sleeping with them? Lying to me?"

"It's not loyalty to what I've done," I said. "It's loyalty to who I'm trying to become. They depended on me. I can't just throw them aside."

She exhaled, the sound sharp and weary. "You want to keep your little 'harem' and have a family too? You think that's something you can balance?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "But I can try. I can be here for you and the baby, and still be there for them. I can't undo what I've built, but I can make it right."

Her laugh was thin and shaky. "Make it right. God, you really believe that, don't you?"

"I have to," I said. "If I don't believe I can make it right, then I've already failed."

The sound of her breathing was the only thing keeping me anchored.

"I hate that I still care," she whispered finally. "After everything you've done, after everything I know, I still care. And I hate that more than anything."

"I know," I said. "You have every right to."

"You ruined me, Evan. You ruined what we had."

"I did," I said. "But I'm still here. And I'll keep being here. You can scream at me, hate me, throw me out a hundred times, but I'll still show up. Because you and that child deserve that much."

She was quiet for a long time. Then, almost too softly to hear, she said, "I don't want to see you tonight."

"I understand."

"Come back tomorrow," she said after a moment. "Maybe I'll talk to you then."

"Alright."

I pressed my palm against the door.

"Thank you."

She didn't answer, but I heard the faintest sound, a small, uneven breath. Then a whisper that almost got lost in the rain.

"I don't forgive you."

"I know," I said quietly. "But maybe one day."

Her reply came slower this time, tired but gentler. "Go, Evan."

I wasn't talking out of my ass, these were my real thoughts. Leaving Delilah and going back to Jasmine and the others… that would… that would mean I'd be betraying her.

And, leaving Jasmine and the others for Delilah… that would mean I'd be betraying myself. Like I'd been luring these girls into darkness with a lantern full of false hopes, then leaving them just like that. Taking the light with me.

"Hmm."

I stood there a while longer, listening to the sound of her breathing on the other side. Then I turned and walked down the hall, my reflection trailing me in the dark glass of the window.

It wasn't forgiveness. Not yet. But it was something.

A start.

╭────────────────╮

QUEST FAILED

====================

Title: Another one

Task: Persuade Delilah to join

in your harem

Reward: +1 LVL, 250c, 200 EXP

====================

Result: You ruined it all.

╰────────────────╯

❤︎‬‪‪❤︎‬‪‪❤︎

My first day at TechForge… and it was boring as hell. I sat behind a sleek reception desk in the executive wing's antechamber, greeting visitors as they filed into Nala's office. My job? Booking her appointments, checking her calendar, making sure no one double-booked the CEO. It beat pumping gas in the summer heat, at least. The air-conditioning hummed softly, and the view through the floor-to-ceiling windows showed the city skyline glittering thirty stories below. Polished marble floors, abstract art on the walls, and the faint scent of expensive coffee from the break room down the hall—everything screamed money.

Two men stepped out of the elevator and strode toward my desk. Marcus Hale and Victor Hale. Brothers, supposedly, but they looked nothing alike.

"Hey," Marcus flashed a practiced smile. "Nala in?"

"Yep," I answered, forcing my own grin. "Go right ahead."

"Thanks," Victor said. "Congrats on the gig, by the way."

"Yeah, thanks. Hope things keep climbing for the company."

"She's got big shoes to fill after Guy," Marcus added, eyes glinting.

Marcus—the one gunning for the CEO chair himself. I wasn't about to bite. Day one, no reason to get canned. I just leaned back and shrugged.

"I trust her."

"For real, brother," Victor laughed. "You stepped up knowing Nala was next in line?"

"I tried," Marcus shot back. "Unlike you, I didn't tuck tail and wait for handouts."

"Shut up," Victor rolled his eyes. "We'll give you a headache with this, Evan. Let's see Nala."

"Go for it. Tell her I said hi."

"Will do, coffee-shop guy," Victor grinned.

"She really told… everyone?" I muttered. "How does the whole building know where we met?"

"Gossip's the top sport here, Evan Henrik Marlowe," Victor said, locking eyes. "That's how you survive."

"How do you know my middle name?"

"I vet everyone." He tapped his temple. "Everyone."

"Paranoid?"

"Prepared."

"Respect."

"See you, Evan." He clapped Marcus on the shoulder. "Let's roll."

They knocked on Nala's frosted-glass door and slipped inside. I leaned forward, catching a glimpse of frantic gestures and urgent voices—like the company's fate hung on every word. I exhaled, spun my chair back to the desk, and checked the clock. Eight more hours. This job was a godsend, honestly. But the people? Elite didn't mean better. Just richer assholes with background checks.

I'd take dumb gas-station jerks over these any day.

"Ugh…"

I grabbed my phone and unlocked it, thumb hovering over Delilah's name. One ring. Two. Three. Four. Nothing.

I stared at the screen, the call dying in my hand. "Come on," I muttered. "Pick up."

She didn't.

I tossed the phone onto the table, leaned back in the chair, and stared at the ceiling. My heartbeat was loud in my ears. Of course she wouldn't answer. What was I expecting? She had every reason to block me forever.

But she was pregnant. With my kid.

The thought didn't fit inside my head. It sat heavy, like a brick dropped on my chest. My best friend's mother. In Ivy's bed. The kind of mistake that eats you alive in slow motion.

I rubbed my face with both hands until I saw spots. There was no way to rewind it. No way to fix it. I'd been reckless, desperate for comfort, drowning in something that didn't even feel like me anymore.

A few minutes later, both Hale walked out of one of the rooms. Both gave me a short nod before leaving for the elevator. I nodded back automatically, eyes still on my phone. The door closed behind them.

Silence. Only the hum of the city through the glass.

I called Delilah again. No answer. Straight to voicemail. I didn't even wait for the tone before ending it.

"Evan?" Nala's voice drifted from the hallway. "Could you come here for a second, please?"

I sighed and stood up. "Yeah, one sec."

She met me at the door of her office, holding it open with one hand. When I stepped inside, I had to pause for a moment.

The place didn't look like an office so much as a designer showroom. The floor was polished dark wood, shining enough to catch the reflection of the city lights bleeding through the glass walls. A wide desk sat near the center, papers stacked neatly on one side, two monitors glowing a soft blue on the other. Behind her, the skyline stretched across the floor-to-ceiling window, blurred by rain and streaked with the neon glow from the streets below.

There was a faint smell of coffee and perfume in the air, something floral mixed with the scent of paper and ozone from the rain. A few framed photos lined the shelf, her and the team at some event, a group shot at the convention, one of her standing in front of a TechForge banner, smiling like she actually believed in the company back then.

Even the furniture looked like it cost more than my old apartment, minimal, clean, expensive. The kind of place meant to impress anyone who walked in. I felt like I should've been wearing a suit just to stand there.

For a second I just stood there, not knowing where to put my hands. I didn't belong in rooms like this.

Nala sat at the edge of a small table near the window, her posture straight but calm. "You seem to be out of it," she said. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just… you know, first day at work." I forced a smile. "A little anxious."

"I've seen you checking your phone every two minutes." She tilted her head. "You waiting for something?"

"Nah," I said, waving it off. "Just checking the news, you know?"

Her mouth quirked. "The girls told me you say 'you know' a lot when you lie."

That made me pause. "They did?"

She nodded once. "Are you lying, Evan?"

Well... shit.

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