Chapter 360 The Truth on the Rooftop

Chapter 360: Chapter 360 The Truth on the Rooftop

Tiffany’s POV

It was my mom who finally told me the truth. A tumor. Surgery. The whole terrifying mess my family had been hiding from me.

So that explained everything. Why Sebastian had been treating me like I was spun from glass and one wrong breath away from shattering. I’d always assumed he was just being his usual overbearing self. Turns out I actually was fragile.

I should have been furious. Or terrified. Instead, I just felt hollow, lying in that hospital bed and staring at the ceiling tiles.

What did it matter, really? Whether I lived or died, I’d already lost the one thing I wanted. Fynn didn’t want me. The rest was just detail.

Then the door creaked open, and the one person I’d given up on walked in and sat down beside me.

I stared at him. For a second, I genuinely wondered if the drugs had made me hallucinate.

"How are you here?" I asked, blinking.

"I heard you were sick, so I came." Fynn said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I’m fine. You can go."

I turned my face to the wall.

"Tiffany. Go out with me."

My brain stuttered. I must have misheard him. "I’m sorry, what?"

"Let’s date. Properly. For real. With marriage in mind." He didn’t blink.

My heart slammed against my ribs, but I refused to let it get its hopes up. I pushed myself upright and searched his face. "Why the sudden change of heart? Is this pity? Because I swear, Fynn, if this is a charity case..."

"No. I just want to try. Maybe you really are the one for me."

His eyes held mine, steady and serious.

And here’s the thing about dying, or nearly dying. It burns away your pride. I had a tumor pressing on my brain, and the worst-case scenario was leaving this world without ever once holding the man I loved. That was a tragedy I wasn’t willing to risk.

So even though every cynical brain cell I owned was screaming that this was foolish, I threw myself into his arms and held on like the ship was going down.

Let it be a dream. I’ll take the dream.

Maybe love really is some kind of magic, because the surgery went off without a hitch. My whole family exhaled at once. Fynn stayed by my side every single day, while Emilia and Sebastian worked hard to keep the company and the pack running.

But recovery meant observation, which meant more long nights in this sterile little room. I was drowsy, half-listening to Fynn ramble about some idiotic thing Sebastian had done at the office, when I drifted off somewhere in the middle of it.

Then, through the fog, I heard my brother’s voice.

"How is she?"

"She’s good. Everything’s good. The doctor says she’s healing beautifully."

A pause. Then Sebastian asked quietly, "Let’s talk on the roof."

"Sure."

Footsteps. The door. Then silence.

In that silence, I opened my eyes.

Something cold coiled in my gut.

I pushed off the blanket, slipped my feet into my slippers, and followed them quietly.

By then, it was already July. The summer night hung thick and damp, crickets sawing away in the dark. A stray breeze drifted past, not enough to cool anything.

Sebastian stood half in shadow, watching Fynn. "Thanks to you, her surgery went smoothly. I owe you."

"It was nothing. We share no blood, but I’ve always thought of her as a little sister."

Little sister.

"Once she’s discharged, I’ll send her abroad to study. I’ll use the gap in our status as an excuse to break things off between you two. Clean. No loose ends. You walk away free."

Fynn nodded. "All right."

A few seconds passed. Then Sebastian asked more quietly, "You truly feel nothing for Tiffany? Not even a flicker?"

"Tiffany’s a wonderful girl. But you can’t force love. No matter how hard I try, a brother’s affection won’t turn into anything more."

Sebastian let out a long, heavy breath. "Fine. You agreed to stay with her for now, to keep her calm while she heals. You’ve done more than enough. We won’t ask anything else of you."

His phone buzzed. He answered, murmured something about contracts, then hung up. He clapped Fynn on the shoulder, gave him a long look weighted with something I couldn’t name, and said, "Something’s come up. I’m heading out."

"All right."

Sebastian turned and strode off, quick and distracted. He never saw the small, shaking shape tucked into the dark.

Yes. I was shaking. But I didn’t cry. I only cried when I was sad. When the hurt went deep enough to turn me numb, I forgot everything. Even the tears.

I dragged my useless, trembling body forward. When I was maybe ten steps from him, I called out, soft as the wind.

"Fynn."

He went rigid. For a heartbeat, I think he hoped he’d imagined it. Then he spun around, and the color drained from his face. I was close enough to touch.

"Tiffany, how are you..."

"It was stuffy inside. I came up for air." I kept my voice flat and even.

How long have you been standing there? Did you just get here? His eyes darted everywhere but mine.

I looked right at him and answered each question as if I were laying bricks. "A while. I got here after the two of you did."

For the next thirty seconds, he didn’t manage a single syllable. We just stared at each other, lost. And in my eyes, he must have seen the answer, because he flinched.

"So you... you heard all of it?"

"Every word."

I nodded. My gaze dropped to the concrete between us, and when I spoke, my voice came out hollow. "I always knew you didn’t want me. But when you told me you’d try, I believed you. I actually convinced myself I’d finally worn you down. That you’d fallen for my sheer stubbornness." A bitter laugh scraped out of me. "I never dreamed you only said yes because I was dying."

My voice cracked right down the middle.

I sniffed hard and lifted my chin. My eyes were swimming, full of tears and something that felt a lot like the end of hope.

"Thank you. For these past few days. I had a good time."

I turned to go.

His hand shot out and caught my wrist. He opened his mouth, but I got there first.

"Don’t worry about me." I threw the words over my shoulder, as lightly as I could manage. "I’m not going to throw my life away over a man. You of all people should know I’m not built like that."

The second my back was to him, the tears finally broke loose and poured down my face.

It was humiliating.

But at least, I thought, I’d kept the last scrap of my pride.

That was something.