MoonCreations

Chloe Redgrave has mastered the art of starting over. After her divorce, her world narrowed to two things: her son and her peace. She isn't looking for a second chance—until Kian Ashford walks back into her life, the man she once left behind before life turned complicated. The man who never stopped feeling like home.

Years have passed. They've grown, changed, and broken in ways they never imagined. But when love circles back, it doesn’t knock—it crashes through the walls.
Now Chloe must decide: does she guard the life she's rebuilt, or risk everything for the one love that may have always been meant for her?

When Love Circles Back

The call ended with a quiet click.

Chloe didn't move. Her phone lay silent on the nightstand, but her pulse still beat louder than it had before.

Kian, still behind her, didn't speak. His arm draped lazily across her waist, warm and certain, but there was nothing lazy in the way he was watching her.

Not because she had something to say. But because everything she wanted to say might be too much right now.

"Macresia," she said finally. "He's moving here."

"Mm." Kian's breath stirred against her shoulder. "That's what he said."

She turned her head slightly. "Are you jealous?"

"No," he murmured. "But I'm not gonna pretend I liked hearing him talk to you like that. Especially not while I'm still holding you."

She gave him a sideways glance. "You made that extremely clear."

She snorted softly and shook her head, letting the silence stretch again. But her fingers found his over her stomach, threading loosely. And when he squeezed, just once, she didn't let go.

By late afternoon, the villa had been cleared and the road narrowed back into the familiar curve of Miravaldi, a quiet hillside village cradled in the southern cliffs of Aeloria, Macresia's oldest coastal city.

The breeze off the sea slipped through the windows as Kian drove. Chloe rested her head on the edge of her seat, one knee up, watching olive trees blur past like old memories.

It had only been a night. One day away. But something had shifted.

And now they had to walk back into a house that hadn't changed—even though they had.

Carter would be there soon. She'd missed his voice already. Samuel might be back from errands. The brothers… unpredictable as ever.

Kian's fingers drummed the steering wheel.

"You're not usually this quiet," she said.

He glanced at her. "Your brothers will smell it the second we walk in. We don't even need to say anything."

"Mikael will," she offered. "Lorence will act like he doesn't care. And Damian will raise an eyebrow and walk away."

Kian chuckled. "Yeah. That tracks."

Then he sobered, fingers tightening around the gear shift.

Chloe looked out at the sea. Let the wind answer first.

"He won't say anything. Not right away."

"He never treated me like an outsider," he said. "Even after you left, he never shut me out. He just… let me be in the space you left behind. Quietly."

"I used to watch him and think, so that's what it looks like—being solid. Being the kind of man someone builds a life around."

There was no heat in his voice. No bitterness. Just reverence.

And when he looked over, there was only this:

"I'm not trying to replace what he's been for you or for Carter. I just want to show him I'm here. And I'm staying."

Then she reached over, took his hand, and brought it to her heart.

Chapter Eighty-Seven: Thresholds and Territory