Chapter 30
The hayloft feels like a cage designed by someone with a sick sense of humor. Four people, infinite emotional baggage, and enough sexual tension to power a small city.
Golden dust motes dance through afternoon light like they’re mocking the gravity of this moment, and I’m curled in the corner like a wounded animal trying to make myself small enough to disappear.
My knees are drawn up to my chest, arms wrapped around them like armor that’s about as effective as tissue paper against what’s coming.
I can feel their presence burning into my skin—Liam’s patient steadiness, Asher’s barely contained intensity, Finn’s restless energy that always made my pulse forget how to behave properly.
But I can’t look at them. Not when I can still hear that cruel laughter echoing in my head, not when I remember standing on that stage feeling like roadkill that someone decided to put on display.
“Jasmine.” Liam’s voice cuts through the silence like a scalpel—soft but certain. “We need you to understand…”
“Do you?” The words come out smaller than intended, and I hate myself for sounding like a broken toy instead of the badass woman I pretend to be. “Because last I checked, talking wasn’t exactly your strong suit when it actually fucking mattered.”
“That’s fair,” Asher says roughly, and his voice sounds like he’s been swallowing gravel. “But we’re here now.”
“Yeah, and where exactly were you when my entire life exploded in front of half the music industry like some kind of professional suicide bomb?” I finally lift my head, meeting their gazes with all the pain I’ve been carrying around like toxic luggage. “Where were you when I needed you most?”
Finn leans forward, his usual easy grin completely AWOL. “We were trying to fix it. We were—”
“You were trying to erase me.” The words slice through the air sharper than I meant them to. “Just like I always knew you would when things got messy and inconvenient.”
“That’s not true.” Liam’s voice is quiet but firm, like he’s trying to convince himself as much as me. “Jasmine, we know everything. About Adelyn, about what she said to you in that bathroom, about the photos—”
My breath hitches like someone just sucker-punched me. “You do?”
“We do.” Asher’s jaw is tight enough to crack diamonds, hands clenched into fists that look ready to demolish something. “I caught that vindictive bitch on the phone twenty minutes after you disappeared. She was bragging about it, laughing about how she made you cry.”
“Bragging?” My stomach drops through the floor and into the earth’s core.
“She set the whole thing up,” Finn says, voice harder than I’ve ever heard it. “Stalked you for weeks, documented your every move like some kind of corporate serial killer, then sold you out for a fucking paycheck.”
“Where is she now?” The question slips out before I can stop it, and I hate that I still care about the answer.
“Gone.” Asher’s smile is sharp enough to perform surgery. “Fired her ass on the spot. Blacklisted her across every label in the city. She’ll be lucky to get a job cleaning toilets after what we did to her reputation.”
I feel a flicker of satisfaction, but it’s quickly overshadowed by the ache in my chest that feels like someone’s been using my heart as a punching bag. “So you got your revenge. Good for you.”
“This isn’t about revenge,” Liam says. “This is about protecting what matters to us. Protecting you.”
“By hiding me? By pretending I never existed?” I laugh, but there’s no humor in it—just the sound of something breaking. “Do you have any idea what that felt like? Watching you three just stand there while that reporter tore me apart like I was some kind of piñata full of shame? Not one of you said a fucking word.”
Finn reaches into his jacket and pulls out a familiar velvet pouch. He doesn’t open it, just holds it between his palms like something sacred.
“We kept everything you left behind. Your dress, this, everything. Because we didn’t know if we’d ever see you again.”
The sight of that small bag makes my throat close up like someone’s squeezing it. “You kept it?”
“Of course we kept it,” Asher says roughly. “What did you think, that we’d just toss it in the trash? That you meant so little we’d throw your things away like garbage?”
“I don’t know what I thought.” My voice cracks like I’m going through emotional puberty. “I was scared and humiliated and I just—I needed to disappear before I completely lost my shit in public.”
“Well, mission accomplished,” Finn says, voice tight with emotions he’s trying not to show. “Do you know what it was like, coming back to find your phone on the desk? Your dress folded like you were never coming back? We thought we’d lost you forever.”
“Maybe you should have.” The words slip out before I can stop them, like verbal vomit I can’t take back. “Maybe it would’ve been easier for everyone.”
“Don’t.” Liam’s voice cuts through the air like a whip. “Don’t you dare say that.”
“Why not? It’s true, isn’t it? I’m the one who complicated everything. I’m the one who couldn’t keep things professional and clean and safe.”
“You’re the one we fell in love with.” The words come from Asher, quiet but absolute, like he’s stating a fundamental law of physics. “All of us. And if you think we’re going to let you disappear because some jealous woman decided to make your life hell, then you don’t know us at all.”
I stare at him, heart hammering against my ribs like it’s trying to escape. “Love?”
“Yeah, love.” Finn’s voice is soft now, vulnerable in a way that makes my chest ache. “You think this was just about the auction? About some fucked-up transaction? Jasmine, I’ve been half out of my mind since you left. We all have.”
“Then why didn’t you come after me sooner?” The question tears out of me like it’s been clawing at my insides for weeks. “Why didn’t you fight for me when it actually mattered?”
Liam runs a hand through his hair, composure finally cracking like expensive veneer.
“Because we thought we were protecting you. We had our legal team scrub the story from every website, filed lawsuits against that photographer, buried the whole thing as deep as we could. We thought that was enough.”
“But it wasn’t,” Asher adds, voice heavy with regret that sounds like it weighs a thousand pounds. “Because while we were fighting battles behind closed doors, you were dealing with the fallout alone. We should’ve defended you publicly. Should’ve stood up there and told everyone exactly what you meant to us.”
“What I meant to you?” I shake my head, because this feels too good to be true and I’ve learned not to trust things that seem too good. “I felt like a mistake you had to erase.”
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to us.” Finn’s words come out fierce, desperate, like he’s trying to convince the universe itself. “All of us. Do you hear me? The best fucking thing.”
“We didn’t fall for some polished image,” Liam says, moving closer with careful steps like he’s approaching a wounded animal. “We didn’t fall for your voice or your talent, though both are incredible. We fell for you, Jasmine. The woman who brings Leo breakfast before making her own. The woman who writes songs in empty studios when she thinks no one’s listening. The woman who lights up a room just by existing in it.”
“No more hiding,” Asher says, voice like steel wrapped in velvet. “No more pretending this is about business or gratitude or any other bullshit excuse. We’re not letting you go again.”
“Even if people find out again?” The question is barely a whisper, but it carries all my fear like a loaded weapon. “Even if it gets worse?”
“They will,” Finn says simply. “And we don’t give a shit. What matters is you. What you want.”
Something shifts in my chest—not shame this time, but something much more dangerous. Hope. Terrifying, bone-deep hope that maybe I don’t have to choose between them and everything else.
Between love and survival.
“I just…” I whisper, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. “I didn’t think I mattered enough.”
Liam is on his knees in front of me before I can blink, hands gently taking mine like they’re made of spun glass.
“You mattered to us before the music, before the spotlight, before anything else. You matter because you’re you. Because you exist and breathe and make the world better just by being in it.”
Finn and Asher move closer, surrounding me in a circle of warmth and safety I’ve been craving since the moment I ran like my life depended on it.
“You belong with us,” Asher says, voice rough with emotions he usually keeps locked away.
“If you’ll still have us,” Finn adds, hope threading through his words like a lifeline.
I look at each of them—really look. Liam’s green eyes are bright with unshed tears. Asher’s jaw is tight with barely controlled emotion. Finn’s usual confidence has cracked to reveal something raw and vulnerable underneath.
These men traveled hours to find me. Kept my things like treasures. Destroyed the woman who hurt me and fought battles I didn’t even know about.
They’re here, on their knees in a dusty hayloft, offering me everything.
The tears I’ve been holding back finally spill over like a dam bursting.
I reach for Liam first, cupping his face as I kiss him with everything I have—all my fear and hope and desperate love. Then Asher, tasting the desperation on his lips like it’s communion wine.
Finally Finn, who makes a broken sound when my mouth finds his. My breath leaves me in a shaky exhale that feels like rebirth, like the first breath after drowning.
“Take me home,” I whisper against Finn’s lips, choosing them fully and finally, choosing love over fear for the first time in my goddamn life.
