The Billionaire’s Fight For Redemption (Noah and Sierra) novel Chapter 178

Chapter 178

I don’t know why I never noticed it before. Maybe I didn’t want to notice.

They give Brook the respect she’s owed as Chloe’s sister, but that’s it. Nothing more. I’ve never seen them play with her, or talk to her the way they talk to my sisters, or laugh the way they do with Sierra.

And the more I think about it, the worse it gets. 2

In fact, they barely even smile when Brook is around. Half the time, they look like they’re holding their breath. The other half, they’re ignoring her completely.

My fists tighten around Nolan, the guilt hitting me like a fucking freight train. How long have I been missing this?

“And she smells like the forest and berries,” he mumbles, like it’s the most important piece of information in the

world. 1

I don’t answer. I can’t. My mind is racing.

Maybe it’s time for Brook to go. I can set up an account, get her her own apartment, make sure she’s taken care of … but her being here? It’s time I reconsider things. 3

Nolan shifts slightly, lifting his head just enough to look at me with those big, honest eyes.

“Nova said she asked Sierra if she could stay with us forever,” he whispers. “But Sierra didn’t really give her an answer.” He hesitates, chewing his bottom lip. “So I’m asking you. Can she stay with us forever?”

The question catches me off guard, and something inside my chest twists so hard I almost flinch.

“What about your mom?” I ask, even though the words scrape out of me like they’re covered in barbed wire.

I’m trying to swallow the pain clawing its way up my throat, but it feels like it’s hellbent on devouring me. I don’t want them to forget their mom. I know Chloe wasn’t in their lives long, but she was still their mother and the thought of them moving on without her, of replacing her, I can’t stomach it. I can’t fucking bear it.

“I’ll always love Mom,” he whispers. “But she isn’t coming back. Isn’t that what happens when someone goes to heaven?”

“Y–yeah.” The word barely comes out. It trembles off my lips like a confession I wasn’t ready to make.

“I miss her,” he murmurs, curling into me. “But I also know she won’t be coming back.”

His words burn straight through me. Why does it hurt so much?

Maybe because he’s saying the one truth I’ve refused to face since the day she died. That no matter how long I pretend or deny or hide… Chloe is never coming back. 2

He lifts his head, looks up at me with those soft, honest eyes, and continues, completely oblivious to the way he’s tearing me apart.

“I don’t mind having a new mom,” he says quietly. “Sierra would make a good mom.”

It feels like the world tilts. Like the air is knocked out of me.

He doesn’t know what he’s saying. He doesn’t understand what those words do to me. Doesn’t know that hearing them cracks something open inside me.

My first instinct is anger. A part of me wants to march straight to Sierra’s room and demand she stop filling my

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Chapter 178

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kids‘ heads, but the more rational part of me knows this isn’t on her.

I know Nolan and he isn’t easily swayed. He’s sharp, stubborn, and painfully observant. If he’s talking like this, it’s because he pieced it together on his own. So instead of losing it, I just hold him tighter.

What the hell am I supposed to say? Me and Sierra… there’s no version of us that fits into a neat explanation. We’re a mess of heartbreak and history and bad choices. And I sure as hell am not giving another woman my heart.

“Dad?”

“Yeah?” My voice comes out rough.

He takes a deep breath and then he asks the question that freezes every damn part of me.

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