Act Like You Love Me (Jessica) novel Chapter 177

Chapter 177

Aaron’s POV

“I stayed because of you all.” Grandmother continued, her eyes ding her daughters.

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“He told me that if I ever left, or spoke a single word, he would sure your lives were ruined. He would strip you of your names, your futures, everything. I traded my soul to keep you safe. I let him treat me like a possession so he wouldn’t turn that darkness on you.”

She looked over at me and then at Adrian, who was curled up on the sofa with his head in Jessica’s lap.

“I knew he had something planned,” she whispered. “But I didn’t know the depth of it until I saw Jessica and Aaron at the party. I didn’t need anyone to tell me they were the center of his malice. When Aaron vanished and I saw the terror in Jessica’s eyes… I went to the first place I knew he did his most haeful work.”

Her eyes filled with a new kind of grief.

“He went too far. Seeing him stand over that little boy with a gun. I realized the sacrifice hadn’t worked. He was still the same monster. And I couldn’t let him take another generation.”

The truth hung in the air, dense and undeniable. All the luxury–the jets, the prestige, the name-had been built on the foundation of her suffering.

She had been the shield standing between us and our grandfather’s madness for decades.

One by one, we moved. My mother and aunts were the first, stepping forward to close the distance, their movements slow and reverent.

They gathered around her chair, reaching out to touch her shoulders and hands, forming a protective circle of shared grief and sudden, blinding clarity.

My cousins and I followed, standing close behind them in a silen guard of honor on the expensive rug.

We stood before the woman who had finally ended the war, our leads bowed in a quiet, collective recognition of the cost she had carried alone for decades.

We weren’t just surrounding a matriarch; we were standing in witness to a survivor.

“Thank you,” my mom whispered, her voice thick as she leaned down to press her forehead against Grandmother’s hand, leading the rest of us in a chorus of hushed, tearful gratitude.

Thank you for everything you endured for us.”

Then, she looked up, her face fierce and her eyes clearing of the old shadows, and she gripped Grandmother’s hand firmly. “The cycle is over,” Mom declared, her voice ringing through the room. “No more secrets. From this moment on, your life is your own. We will make sure of it. I vow to you, Mom, that you will never have to be silent again.”

Grandmother nodded slowly, a small, tired smile touching her lips as the tension she had carried for fifty years finally began to drain away. She then looked toward the sofa.

Bring the boy to me,” she requested gently.

I beckoned Adrian over. He walked up shyly, his small hand tucked in mine.

“Adrian, I said softly, “this is your Great-Grandmother. She’s the one who saved us

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Chapter 177

She reached out, her fingers trembling as she brushed his cheek

“He has your eyes, Aaron. And your spirit-I can perceive that.”

The family members began to crowd around, introducing themselves properly to Adrian.

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“Jessica,” my mom called, taking her hand. “We are so incredibly sorry. For the way you were treated, for the way you we forced to hide. You are a part of this family, whether Kennedy wanted it or not.”

Jessica looked at me, a soft, weary smile on her face.

“Thank you,” she said. “That means more than you know.”

As the room began to settle, the air finally lost that heavy, suffocating quality it had held for hours.

My father stepped toward me, his gait slower than usual. He looked older than he had that morning, the lines around his eyes etched deep by the night’s trauma.

He stopped a few feet away, his hands shoved into his pockets, looking at me as if he were trying to memorize a face he’d almost lost.

From the corner of my eye, I could see my mother watching us

She was leaning against the mahogany sideboard, her face wet with tears, but her expression was one of profound happiness.

She didn’t intervene; she just stood there, witnessing a moment she had probably prayed for during every year I was away.

“So,” my father said, his voice quiet, scraping through the silence “Are you going back? To your hiding place?”

His question hung between us for a moment before I broke it.

“It wasn’t hiding, Dad,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. I shifted my weight, feeling the awkwardness of our history press

on me.

“It was breathing. I needed to be somewhere where the name Tyrone didn’t decide who I was before I even opened my

mouth.”

He looked down at the rug, tracing the pattern with the toe of his shoe.

“I know. I… I suppose I never made it easy for you to breathe here. I was so busy looking at the old man, making sure I didn’t trip over his expectations, that I didn’t notice I was tripping over yours.”

It was the closest thing to an apology I had ever heard from him. The tension in my shoulders began to ebb away,

“We had a good life there,” I continued, glancing back at Jessica, who was still holding Adrian close. “A quiet one where it was just us.”

“And now?” he asked, finally meeting my eyes. “The ghost is gone Aaron. The old man… he won’t be coming back to our lives. You could stay. We could fix this. The dreams everyone carried in their hearts, the family it could be what DE WARS always meant to be.”

I looked around the room-at the gold leaf, the heavy drapes, the history of a family that had been broken for a long time. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t mine.

“There’s no need to hide anymore,” I said, and I meant it. “The fear is gone. But China is our home now, Dud. We’ve built something real there. Our own terms, our own friends, our own peace”

He sighed, a long, weary sound that seemed to deflate his chest see.”

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Chapter 177

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“But,” I added, stepping closer until the awkward gap between us vanished. “We aren’t going to be strangers. We’ll come back. Often. Especially for Grandmother. And for Mom. And for you

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