My best friend got a divorce. She left me with her son… and a billion dollars. I raised him from a boy into a man, and just as I was ready to embrace my life as a single, wealthy woman, my surrogate son saw the box of ultra-thin condoms on my nightstand during a video call. That night, he scaled the school wall and raced home in a frenzy. He slammed me against the wall, one hand closing around my neck, the other tearing open the small foil packet. "Kate," he rasped, his voice a low growl. "If you're so desperate for a man, why not me?" 1 Slap! The sharp crack of my palm against his cheek echoed in the silent room. Nolan’s assault finally stopped, his fingers loosening their grip on my throat. I scrambled to sit up, gasping for air. My lips moved, but for a moment, no sound came out. Finally, I managed to choke out a few words. "You're supposed to call me your godmother." A livid red handprint was already blooming on Nolan’s cheek, but he didn't say a word. The torn wrapper lay on the white sheets, a startlingly obscene piece of evidence. The events of the last few minutes were beyond anything I could have imagined, and a sick, anxious knot was tightening in my chest. I pulled up the fallen strap of my nightgown, desperate to pretend this wasn't happening. "I understand you're upset about me dating," I said, my voice shaking slightly. "No kid wants a blended family. I get it." "I promise," I continued, forcing a placating tone, "I'll wait two more years. Until after you graduate college. Then I'll think about my own life." "But you have to promise me you won't act out like this ever again." "Act out." Such a simple, sanitized phrase to cover the grotesque scene that had just unfolded. But it was clear my attempt to smooth things over was a pathetic fantasy. Nolan wasn't taking the olive branch. His gaze was a blade of pure mockery. "Kate, I almost fucking took you right here, and you're calling it 'acting out'?" 2 The blood drained from my face, a roar filling my ears. "Nolan, shut your mouth!" I hissed. He fell silent. The atmosphere in the room turned thick and suffocating. I clutched the bedsheets, my mind racing, trying to pinpoint where everything had gone so horribly wrong. Was it because he was abandoned by his parents at twelve, stunting his emotional growth? Or was it my own inexperience? Had I failed to guide him through the turbulent years of his adolescence? A storm of chaotic thoughts swirled in my head. Before I realized what was happening, Nolan had collapsed onto my lap, burying his face in my stomach. "Kate," he murmured. He was back to using my name, refusing to call me his godmother. "It's just us. It's always been just us. Isn't that enough?" No. It wasn't. If I were twenty-two and he were a handsome, predatory twenty-year-old stranger whispering those words to me, I would have fallen head over heels. But I'm thirty. And Nolan isn't a stranger. He's my best friend's son. The boy I've raised for the last eight years. My godson. 3 I stared into the darkness, sleep a million miles away. The man who was supposed to be lying next to me, a promising new prospect from my recent dating efforts, had been unceremoniously punched out of the hotel room by Nolan hours ago. Now, the usurper himself was wrapped around me from behind, his arms a steel cage around my waist. "Kate," he whispered, his voice a low rumble against my back. "If you can't sleep, we could still put that little thing to use." I squeezed my eyes shut. A soft chuckle vibrated through me, and the arms around my waist tightened. Half an hour later, Nolan's breathing evened out into the deep, steady rhythm of sleep. Young people always fall asleep so fast. I continued to stare at the ceiling until the sudden glare of my phone screen illuminated the room. Kate, are you awake? I'm planning on coming home. Two simple messages. That's all it took to demolish the fragile sense of calm I had spent hours trying to build. Regina Miller. My best friend, ten years my senior, and Nolan’s biological mother. After nearly a decade of living abroad, she was coming back. If I had received this news before tonight, I would have been ecstatic. Eight years! I’d raised her son for eight long years. The thought of finally unloading the burden who had kept me single and shackled for almost a decade should have been a dream come true. But life is a cruel joke. Nolan’s words from earlier echoed in my mind, a deafening roar. "If any man will do, Kate, then why not me?" I lay awake the entire night. It wasn’t until the first hint of dawn painted the sky that I finally replied. When's your flight? Nolan and I will pick you up. 4 Regina’s return was sudden. Her flight was the next afternoon, leaving me no time to process the wreckage of the previous night. I had to plaster a serene mask on my face and prepare to greet the best friend I hadn't seen in years. Nolan, however, was a different story. Since last night, his recklessness had only intensified. While I was brushing my teeth, he crowded in behind me, his taller frame easily eclipsing mine. "You smell so good, Kate." His hot breath ghosted across my neck. Before I could even spit out the toothpaste, his mouth was on mine, his tongue aggressively sweeping away the foam. "Nolan!" I shoved him away, my hands trembling. I raised one to strike him again, but it faltered mid-air. Under his defiant, brazen gaze, I finally slapped him, hard. "This is the last time I'm telling you," I seethed, my voice dangerously low. "I am your godmother!" That was the second time I’d hit him. In all the years before, even when he was a snarling twelve-year-old fresh from overseas, covered in bruises and bristling with anger, lashing out at everyone, I had never once laid a hand on him. Slap. Nolan's head snapped to the side. A thin trickle of blood appeared at the corner of his lip. The dam of my feigned composure instantly cracked. "...Does it hurt?" I reached for him, but he flinched away. He stood just outside the bathroom door, his large frame hunched, radiating a dark, obsessive energy. My own weakness overwhelmed me. It took everything I had not to break. I finally managed to turn my head away, unable to meet his gaze. "Regina's flight gets in tonight. You're coming with me to pick her up." 5 We waited at the arrivals gate for what felt like an eternity before Regina finally appeared. Her hair was styled in glamorous waves, and she wore a chic trench coat, looking as if time hadn't touched her at all. I was about to raise the welcome sign when I saw her stop just around the corner to share an intimate kiss with her current husband. I froze, my eyes glued to the man at her side. He was holding a little boy, no older than three. The three of them stood together, a perfect, glowing portrait of a happy family. "Kate." Nolan's voice, tinged with a weary resignation, broke through my stupor. "I'm not crying. Why are you?" I was crying for him. Until this very moment, neither of us had known about the little boy. Without a word of warning, Regina had paraded her new child in front of the son she had abandoned. 6 The silence in the airport café was heavy enough to crush. In an attempt to break the tension, Regina gently pushed the little boy forward. "Teddy, I taught you some English. Say hello to your brother." The little boy just fidgeted, refusing to speak. When she pressed him, he burst into tears. Regina flushed with embarrassment. Her husband quickly stood up. "I'll take him for a walk," he said in heavily accented English. As they left, Regina let out a sigh of relief. She turned to Nolan, a flicker of apology in her eyes. "Nolan, how are your classes? Are you adjusting well to being back in the States?" Nolan's expression hadn't changed since we'd arrived—a flat, emotionless mask. He wasn't lashing out, but he wasn't welcoming either. "I've been in college for two years already. Isn't it a little late to ask?" Regina forced a weary smile. "Nolan, can't you just try to have a normal conversation with me?" He scoffed. "Aren't there enough people in your life to talk to?" The atmosphere soured further. I instinctively jumped in to defend him. "He caught up with his high school curriculum just fine. He got into a great university, and he's thinking about studying abroad for his last two years." Regina seized the lifeline. "Studying abroad is a great idea! I still have some connections in Europe, I could help Nolan..." "Not interested. I'm not going abroad." Nolan cut her off without a shred of hesitation, his gaze cold and resolute. But his next words sent a chill down my spine. "And I'm never leaving Kate." 7 Regina missed the hidden threat in his words and simply accepted it. "Well, that's fine too. I'm planning on settling down here, so I'll be around to help out." The word "settling" made Nolan’s face darken. "You're staying here? Regina, I thought you loved living in Europe. What are you doing back here?" His barrage of questions made Regina’s smile falter. "Nolan! Daniel already has his green card. Our family will be together soon. Even if you don't like them, you could at least pretend!" "Ha!" Nolan’s reaction was more explosive than when he'd first seen her with a new child. A dark, unreadable expression flashed across his face as he glared first at his mother, then shot a deep, piercing look at me, before storming away from the table. Now it was just me and Regina. "Kate," she said, taking a few deep breaths to compose herself. A gentle smile finally returned to her face. "You've become even more beautiful. It looks like life has been good to you these past few years." "I was high-risk when I was pregnant with Teddy, so I spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital. I didn't have much energy to keep in touch." She paused, her eyes softening. "Watching you with Nolan... you have a much better relationship with him than I ever did." I listened in silence until her last sentence. I couldn't stop myself from looking up. "Where are you planning on living, now that you're back?" "I have a villa in the suburbs. We'll move in there." "And Nolan? Is he moving in with you?" At this, Regina fell silent. After a long moment, she managed a small, tight smile. "Kate, you're my best friend, so I'll be blunt. I have a new life now. Even if Nolan moved in with us, it would be awkward for him, and for us. It would be better for everyone if he just... stayed with you." Tears started to well in my eyes. "That's not fair." It wasn't fair to Nolan. And it wasn't fair to me. 8 I never expected Nolan to reappear and drag me away from the table. I could hear Regina calling after us, but her voice was lost in the chaos. The next thing I knew, I was being shoved into a car, my face a mess of tears. Nolan leaned in close. He gently kissed away each tear as it fell. "Don't cry," he murmured. "I know she just dumped me on you again. But I can't help it... Kate, I don't have anywhere else to go." No. That wasn't true. He had places to go. When Regina divorced his father, she'd fought for the majority of their assets. She kept half and gave the other half... to me, to manage for Nolan. On his eighteenth birthday, I signed everything over to him. It included over thirty properties across the country. He could live in a different house every month of the year and not repeat. As if reading my mind, Nolan let out a bitter laugh. "Kate, I never had a home to begin with. If you abandon me too, where will I go?" His words shattered my resolve. I reached out and cupped his face, my vision blurred by tears. In that moment, I saw the twelve-year-old boy he used to be, fresh from overseas, his face and body a canvas of bruises from constant fights, his eyes full of hate and defiance. The first thing he ever said to me was a sneer. "So you're the little charity case my father sponsored?" followed by a string of curses in a mix of English and his mother's native tongue, each word filthier than the last. Eight years had passed. Now, the only filth that came from his mouth was of a different, more dangerous kind. "Kate, watching you cry like this doesn't make me feel sorry for you. It just makes me want you more." 9 After our rushed departure from the airport, Regina scheduled another meeting. She also transferred a huge sum of money into my account. Kate, I know I've wronged you. This is to compensate you. Nolan's a grown man now. If he's truly a burden, just ask him to move out. You can treat each other like siblings, just be there for each other when needed. Nolan read the messages over my shoulder, deleting them one by one with a cold smirk. "A burden? I'm so well-behaved. How could I possibly be a burden?" "You're a burden to my love life," I said flatly. I'd taken him in at twenty-two. The first six years were a constant battle, just learning how to coexist. After he turned eighteen, I'd gone on countless dates, and he had sabotaged every single one. The man from last night was the one I'd connected with the most, the one I'd been talking to the longest. Yes, we'd gotten a hotel room before even defining the relationship, but that was mostly my own desperation. I just wanted to be free of Nolan. "Hah." He was angry again. He could never stand to hear me talk like this. "Kate, you knew saying that would make me angry, but you said it anyway. You need to be punished." He bruised my lips, biting down until they were swollen and tender. I was too weak to push him away. I closed my eyes. "Nolan, can't we just be like a normal brother and sister?" I wasn't even asking him to see me as a godmother anymore. Just a sister to be respected. His lips pulled away just long enough to mock my foolish hope. "Have you ever heard of a brother who wants to sleep with his own sister?" I squeezed my eyes shut, a desolate wasteland spreading through my heart.
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