Breaking His Walls
RONNY’S POV
I stood there, frozen, at the edge of the room.
For a second, it didn’t feel real. The noise, the people, the lights—the love.
Love.
That word had been poison in my mouth for years. A ghost that haunted me every birthday, every empty night in every empty apartment I ever stayed in. I used to believe the word didn’t belong to me. That I’d been born outside of it, like some mistake the world tried to sweep under the rug.
But tonight… tonight was different.
I stared at the crowd in front of me. Hardin and Ariana were standing near the cake, Ariana’s belly round now, glowing like she was holding a small sun inside her. Liliana was right there with them, laughing, her eyes shining as she bent down and kissed Ariana’s belly like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Something inside me cracked.
I had never seen a sight like that—Liliana, this stubborn, fiery woman, kneeling there, smiling at the unborn child of our friends like she already loved it.
My throat burned.
I turned my head a little, pretending to look at the gifts on the table, but really I was hiding. Hiding from the heat behind my eyes. Hiding from the ache in my chest.
Because for the first time in my life, I wanted that.
Not just wanted it. Needed it.
Needed it with her.
Liliana.
The woman who had barged into my life like a storm and refused to leave. The woman who had seen every ugly piece of me and still said, I’m staying.
For years, on this day, I’d disappear. I’d shut off my phone, leave town, sit in some bar alone until midnight passed and I could breathe again. Birthdays weren’t for me. They were for people with families. People who belonged.
But tonight… here I was.
She had dragged me back. She had planned all this, knowing how much I hated it, knowing I might run, and she still did it. For me.
I looked at her again. She was smiling, her hair falling loose around her shoulders, her cheeks flushed from running after me earlier. She looked like everything I’d ever wanted but never dared to ask for.
I swallowed hard. My heart wouldn’t stop pounding.
Hardin moved beside me, breaking my thoughts. He tapped my back, his touch firm but warm. “Never thought I’d see the day we’d celebrate your birthday,” he said with a half-smile.
I huffed out a laugh, low and rough. “Me neither.”
He gave me a look that said more than his words ever could. He’d known me for years, maybe better than anyone. He’d seen the worst parts, stood by me when I tried to push everyone away. And now he was here, celebrating me.
Ariana joined us a moment later, her hand resting on her belly. “Liliana’s amazing,” she said softly. “This whole thing… it’s beautiful.”
I didn’t trust my voice enough to answer, so I just nodded.
Mark came up on my other side, grinning like an idiot. “She’s a keeper,” he said, jerking his chin toward Liliana. “You should definitely marry her before someone else tries to.”
I blinked, startled, and turned my head toward him. “Hey,” I said, my voice sharper than I meant it to be. “Stop looking at her like that. She’s mine.”
Mark laughed, clapping me on the shoulder. “Stone-cold Ronny’s in love. Never thought I’d see the day.”
Hardin chuckled too, low and knowing. “He’s right, man. You’re different with her. Softer.”
Their words hit me harder than I expected.
In love.
The phrase sat heavy in my chest, then started to spread like fire.
I was in love.
I was in love with her.
My heart slammed against my ribs. My palms felt hot, restless. Liliana had told me she loved me. She had it with fire in her voice, with a kind of certainty I’d never seen before.
And me?
I’d stayed silent.
I’d told myself I couldn’t say it back because I didn’t deserve it. Because the words would choke me. Because she would see the broken boy inside me and run.
But she didn’t run.
She ran after me tonight.
And now, standing here in this room full of people, I realized the truth.
I loved her.
I loved her so much it scared me.
I loved her so much it hurt.
I loved her so much I wanted to tell the whole world, wanted to carve it into the sky, wanted to burn down every wall I’d ever built and let her walk through.
I looked at her again. She was holding a plate of cake now, laughing with Jess, her eyes flicking toward me like she was checking to make sure I hadn’t vanished.
God, she was beautiful.
I wanted to cross the room, grab her hand, pull her into my arms, and tell her everything. Tell her how she’d changed me. Tell her how she’d dragged me out of the dark. Tell her how, for the first time, I felt wanted.
But my feet stayed planted.
I kept my hands in my pockets, my face neutral, while inside me everything was trembling.
Hardin leaned in, his voice low. “You look like a man about to jump off a cliff.”
I smirked without humor. “Feels like it.”
He tilted his head toward Liliana. “Then jump. She’ll catch you.”
His words stuck to me, heavy and simple.
Jump.
I looked at her again. Her smile, her laugh, the way she threw her head back when something really amused her. The way she’d kissed Ariana’s belly like she already loved their child.
I wanted that. I wanted to build a life with her. A family. I wanted to see her belly swell with our child. I wanted to wake up next to her every morning, not just in borrowed nights but forever.
My throat tightened. My chest ached.
For years, I told myself I didn’t deserve love. But maybe… maybe I could learn. Maybe she could teach me.
I clenched my fists inside my pockets. Tonight. Tonight I would tell her.
No more running. No more silence.
I would tell her everything.
I drifted through the rest of the evening like a ghost. People talked to me, handed me gifts, clapped my back, laughed at jokes I barely heard. My eyes kept going back to her. My mind kept rehearsing the words I wanted to say.
Liliana moved through the room with an ease I envied. She talked to everyone, hugged them, thanked them. She looked like she belonged, like she’d always belonged.
And somehow, she made me feel like I belonged too.
Later, when most of the guests had drifted toward the bar or the dance floor, I found myself standing near the big windows, looking out at the garden. The night air was cool beyond the glass. The stars were faint but steady.
Behind me, the music hummed, the voices rose and fell. But in front of me was only my reflection, pale and sharp in the glass. A man I barely recognized.
Stone-cold Ronny. That was the name they used to call me. The man who didn’t feel, didn’t bend, didn’t break.
But now?
Now my chest was full of a warmth so strong it scared me.
I heard a laugh behind me—hers. I turned slightly, catching a glimpse of her across the room. She was looking at me, like she always did, like she saw something no one else could see.
My heart jumped.
Tonight.
Tonight I would confess my undying love to her.
Not tomorrow. Not someday.
Tonight.
I took a deep breath, my hand curling into a fist. For the first time in years, I wasn’t thinking about running. I was thinking about staying. About building. About loving.
I was thinking about her.
I straightened, my heart hammering. The room blurred at the edges, all the noise fading until it was just me and her and the space between us.
My feet shifted, ready to move.
And then I stopped.
Because I realized something.
This wasn’t just about saying the words. This was about changing everything. This was about tearing down the last wall inside me and letting her see everything—every scar, every shadow, every piece I’d hidden.
It was terrifying.
But for the first time, I didn’t care.
I was ready.
I was ready to love her.
I was ready to tell her.
I watched her laugh at something Jess said, her hand flying to cover her mouth, her eyes shining.
My heart ached with it.
Tonight.
I would tell her tonight.
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