My Bestie's Dad Likes Me Wet-Chapter 107 CHOICE

NOVA POV

I made it to the motel parking lot before I broke down completely.

My hands shook so badly I couldn’t get the key in the door. I just stood there, sobbing like an idiot while Grant’s words echoed in my head.

Marry me.

Or lose everything.

Not a choice, it’s more of a trap. A beautiful, terrible trap that I’d walked right into by ever loving Grant Calloway in the first place.

The door opened before I could get myself together. Sam stood there, took one look at my face, and pulled me inside.

"What did he say?" His voice was tight. "What did he do?"

I couldn’t answer. I just cried against his chest while he held me, this man who’d spent six years being everything Grant couldn’t be or maybe I wouldn’t allow him to be. Sam is steady, present and reliable.

The man I was about to destroy.

"Nova?" He pulled back, searching my face. He’d been calling me Nova since my confession. Not Elizabeth. Like he was trying to reconcile the two versions of me and failing. "Talk to me. What happened?"

"He wants me to marry him." The words came out flat. Dead.

Sam went very still. "What?"

"He gave me an ultimatum. Marry him, go back with him, let him be the boys’ father. Or he takes me to court and fights for full custody." I wiped my face, but the tears kept coming. "He said he has the best lawyers. That he’ll prove I kept them from him deliberately. That he’ll win."

"He’s bluffing—"

"He’s not." I looked up at Sam, this good man who deserved so much better than what I was about to do. "You don’t know Grant. When he wants something, he doesn’t stop until he gets it. And he wants his sons. He wants me."

"What do you want?"

The question hung between us, heavy and impossible.

What did I want?

I wanted to rewind six years and never play that stupid truth or dare game. Never kneel in that VIP room. Never fall in love with a man who would consume my entire life.

I wanted to go back to being Elizabeth Moore, safe and hidden in Petals Creek, where my biggest worry was whether the boys would eat their vegetables.

I wanted to keep Sam and keep Grant and somehow make this whole mess disappear.

But none of that was possible.

"I don’t know," I whispered.

Sam’s jaw tightened. "Yes, you do. You’ve always known."

He was right. God help me, he was right.

"I need to tell you something," I said, my voice shaking. "And I need you to hear all of it before you say anything."

Sam nodded, his face carefully blank. We sat on the edge of the bed, the same bed where he’d tucked the boys in an hour ago after reading them stories and kissing their foreheads like he always did.

Like their father would.

Except he wasn’t their father. He’d never been their father. And I’d let him believe he could be.

"When I met Grant, it was like... like nothing I’d ever felt before." The words tasted like betrayal, but they were true. "He made me feel alive. Seen. Like I mattered. Like I was more than just the scholarship girl or the orphan or the good student. He looked at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered."

Sam said nothing. He nodded and still listened.

"It was intense and terrifying and all-consuming. I knew it was wrong. I knew it would end badly. But I couldn’t stop. Didn’t want to stop." I took a shaky breath. "And when everything fell apart, when Lena destroyed my life and I found out I was pregnant, I ran because I was scared. But also because I knew if I stayed, Grant would fix it. He’d make it all go away with his money and his power, and I’d spend the rest of my life being the woman he saved. The debt I could never repay."

"Like you feel with me," Sam said quietly.

I flinched. "Sam—"

"That’s what this is, isn’t it? You feel like you owe me. For the cribs and the rides and the six years of showing up. You feel indebted."

"That’s not—" I stopped. Because it was true. At least partly. "I care about you. I do. You’ve been so good to me and the boys. You’ve been everything I needed when I needed it."

"But you don’t love me." Not a question. A statement.

"I love you," I said, and it wasn’t a lie. "But not the way I love him. What I feel for you is... safe. Comfortable and real in a way that doesn’t hurt. You’re my best friend, Sam. You’re the boys’ father in every way that matters. You’re—"

"Not Grant Calloway." He interrupted me with a stony expression but I knew I’d hurt him underneath the facade of control.

The name sat between us like a confession.

"I tried," I whispered. "I tried so hard to move on. To let Nova Hart die and let Elizabeth Moore fall in love with you the way you deserve. But every time I looked at the boys, I saw him. Every time you kissed me, I felt guilty because part of me was still his. Part of me has always been his."

Sam stood up, walked to the window. "You’re going to marry him."

"I don’t have a choice—"

"Bullshit." He turned, and the pain in his eyes made me want to die. "You have a choice, Nova. You’ve always had a choice. You’re just too scared to admit that you want him more than you want me."

"That’s not fair—"

"Life’s not fair!" His voice rose, then dropped. "I spent six years loving you. Raising your sons. Being there for every midnight feeding and every nightmare and every fever. I built those cribs with my own hands. I taught Phoenix to ride a bike and Asher to tie his shoes. I love those boys like they’re mine."

"I know—"

"But they’re not mine. They’re his. And so are you." He laughed, but it was hollow. "I always knew, you know. Deep down. I knew there was someone else. Someone you were running from or running to, I could never figure out which. But I told myself it didn’t matter. That what we had was real enough. That eventually you’d stop looking at them and seeing him."

"Sam—"

"Do you know what kills me?" His voice cracked. "It’s not that you’re choosing him. It’s that you were never really mine to begin with. I was just keeping you warm until he found you."

"Don’t say that—"

"It’s true though, isn’t it? That’s what I’ve been. A placeholder. A safety net. The good guy who never stood a chance against the man who made you feel alive."

I was crying again, but these tears were different. These were for Sam. For what I was taking from him. For what I’d never been able to give him.

"I wish I could love you the way you deserve," I whispered. "I wish I could be the woman you think I am. But I can’t. I’m too broken. Too much of me belongs to someone else."

"Then go." Sam’s voice was flat. "Go marry your billionaire and give your sons the life they deserve. But don’t pretend you’re doing this because you don’t have a choice. You’re doing this because deep down, you want to."

He was right. God, he was right.

Because if I was honest—truly honest—I’d been waiting for Grant to find me. Hoping he would. Hoping he’d crash back into my life and give me a reason to stop pretending I was someone I wasn’t.

Elizabeth Moore was comfortable but Nova Hart was the truth. And the truth was that I’d never stopped loving Grant Calloway.

"What about the boys?" I asked quietly. "They love you. They call you Dad."

"And I love them." Sam’s voice softened. "That’s why I’m not going to fight this. Because fighting Grant means putting them in the middle of a custody battle they don’t deserve. It means lawyers and courts and trauma. And I love them too much to do that to them."

"You could still see them—"

"As what? The man they used to call Dad before their real father showed up?" He shook his head. "No. Clean break is better. For them and for me."

"Sam—"

"I need you to leave, Nova." He wouldn’t look at me. "I need you to take the boys and go marry Grant Calloway and build whatever life you’re going to build. But I can’t—I can’t watch it happen. I can’t sit here and pretend I’m okay with losing all of you."

I wanted to argue. I wanted to beg him to stay in our lives somehow. But I had no right. I’d used him for six years. Let him love children who weren’t his. Let him build a future that was never going to happen.

I stood up, walked to the door then I stopped.

"For what it’s worth," I said without turning around, "you made me believe I could be happy again. You made me feel like maybe Nova Hart deserved good things. And I’ll always love you for that."

"But not enough to stay."

"No." The truth tasted like ash. "Not enough to stay."

I left before he could respond. Before I could see his face break. Before I could change my mind and make this even worse than it already was.

The boys were asleep in the adjoining room. I stood in the doorway, watching them. Phoenix had his arm thrown over Asher like he always did. Asher’s mouth was open, a tiny bit of drool on his pillow.

My sons. Grant’s sons.

Tomorrow I’d tell them. Tomorrow I’d explain that the man they met today was their real father. That we were going back with him. That Sam...I couldn’t think about Sam.

My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Eight a.m. Don’t be late. - G

I typed back: I’ll be ready.

Three dots appeared. Then: I knew you would be.

Because he’d always known. Knowing that despite everything, I’d choose him. That I’d always choose him.

I was about to put my phone away when another text came through.

I love you, Nova. I never stopped.

I stared at those words. Words I’d dreamed about for six years. Words that should have made me happy. Instead, I just felt tired, resigned to fate.

I typed back: I love you too.

And I did. God help me, I did.

But as I looked at my sleeping sons and thought about the man in the next room whose heart I’d just shattered, I wondered if love was supposed to hurt this much.

If it was supposed to cost this much.

If choosing Grant meant losing pieces of myself I’d never get back.

But it didn’t matter. Because tomorrow morning, I’d pack up our things. I’d wake up the boys. I’d tell them we were going on an adventure.

And I’d marry the man who’d destroyed me and saved me in equal measure. Because Nova Hart had never known how to do anything halfway. And Grant Calloway had never learned how to let go.

My phone buzzed one more time. Another text from Grant.

Bring the boys. I want them to know they’re coming home.