The Billionaire’s Fight For Redemption (Noah and Sierra) novel Chapter 249

NOAH.

The door closes.

She doesn’t slam it in my face, and for some reason, that feels worse. If she had slammed it, I could’ve read it as anger, something loud, something temporary. But this quiet closing feels final. Like she’s closing a chapter... And that makes my heart sink.

I stand there a second too long, staring at the wood like it might open again if I wait. Like she’ll change her mind. Like she’ll reach for the handle, pull the door open, and say something, but she doesn’t. The door stays closed, and I’m left standing on the other side like a fucking idiot.

My chest feels heavy. Not sharp pain but I wish it were that. I could handle sharp pain. This is worse. It’s dull and sinking feeling, feels like something is slipping out of my grasp and I don’t know how to stop it.

This doesn’t make sense. I don’t want her. I shouldn’t want her and yet, every instinct in my body is screaming at me to knock. To open that door. To see her face one more time.

I lift my hand. It hovers inches from the door. Then I drop it.

She made her choice, and I can’t do anything about it.

Maybe she’s right. Maybe this is for the best. I’ve tried my fucking hardest to forget the past. To bury it deep and move on, but being around her these past few months has done nothing but pry open a door I swore I’d sealed shut a long time ago.

I force my feet to move, walking back to the car, because I know if I stop, I’ll turn around and do something I can’t take back.

The city blurs past me, but my mind stays stuck on her. Stuck on that night at the club. The night I made a complete ass of myself, reacting like a damn neanderthal.

I didn’t want to admit it to her, but she was right. I was fucking jealous.

Jealous that she could be so open with a stranger, yet always guarded with me. She smiled and laughed with him so easily, while with me, the only time I ever get to see her smile like that is when she’s with the twins or Lilly.

It shouldn’t bother me and yet, I can’t understand why it does.

My mind drifts to the necklace. I don’t even fucking understand what possessed me to buy it. All I know is that I saw her admiring it. Saw her smile while she looked at it and in that moment, I wanted to make her happy.

It doesn’t make any sense. She fucking destroyed me, and yet I wanted to make her smile. Why?

“Why did she leave?” Nova asks through tears.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. How do I explain this without destroying them?

“She had to go home,” I say finally. “This wasn't her home.”

“But I didn’t want her to go,” Nolan says quietly, the brokenness clear in his eyes.

“Me neither,” Nova sobs. “I wanted her to stay forever. To be with us forever.”

Their words hit harder than anything Sierra said. I knew they’d grown attached to her but I never realized it was this deep.

Looking at them now, I can see it. The shift. Without her, the house already feels different. The light she brought with her is gone and the twins feel it too.

It’s only been a couple of hours since she left, but they’ve already slipped back into how they were before she arrived. Lifeless, like the light inside them has dimmed. Like there’s nothing left to look forward to.