I Became a Kindergarten Teacher for Monster Babies!-Chapter 497 I will help you

He dragged a hand through his hair, making it even messier.

"Two months ago, they came back... with the same contract they made when I was fifteen years old. Without my consent. A merger with the Vance family, sealed by marriage. My marriage to Celia Vance. I refused. I told them about you. I said I had met someone... someone real."

A painful, distant shadow crossed his face.

"My father called you a phase. A distraction from my ’true legacy.’ He said my feelings didn’t matter. The deal was everything."

Aaron’s voice dropped, becoming quieter and more intense. "So I started digging into her. Celia. I thought if I could find some leverage, a scandal, a secret lover, anything, I could break the contract. But what I found..." He shook his head slowly, the memory clearly horrifying. "I found missing persons files. Three women. All linked to me through the smallest, most incidental contact. A conversation at a gallery opening. A shared cab after a mutual friend’s party. A colleague I had lunch with twice. After each of those encounters, each woman... vanished. Without a trace."

He looked directly at her, willing her to see the dread in his eyes. "The police have suspicions. There are whispers. But no evidence. No bodies. Just a pattern that points to one person. Celia Vance. She’s pathologically possessive. And she has the resources to clean up any mess she makes."

He took another step, his voice dropping to a raw whisper. "That is why I hid it, Georgia. Not to deceive you about my heart. My heart has been yours since the day you laughed at my terrible coffee order and then showed me how to fix it. I hid it to build a wall between you and a woman who sees anyone I care about as a stain that must be erased. If she had known about you... if she even suspected what you mean to me..."

He could not finish the sentence.

"I became a prisoner of my own investigation," he confessed, his voice thick with self-loathing. "I had to publicly play the part of the compliant fiancé, just enough to keep her from looking closer. That is why I did not react when my parents released the engagement announcement, while privately I was tearing my life apart trying to find proof to stop her. I thought I could carry it all. That I could handle the ugliness alone and then come to you when it was over, when I was free and the danger was gone. I was arrogant. And I was terrified. Terrified that telling you would put a target on your back. Terrified that even knowing about her would poison what we had. And I tried to convince my parents about you as well... but it did not work."

He looked at her tear-streaked face, and his composure finally broke. A single tear traced a line down his cheek.

"But in trying to protect you from a monster, I became the thing that hurt you the most. I let you believe you meant nothing to me, when you are... you are everything. The five minutes are up. I will go. But I needed you to know. You deserved the terrible, ugly truth."

He turned and started to leave without waiting for a response.

The silence that followed his exit was heavy.

Georgia stood frozen, the echo of his confession, danger, missing women, investigation, colliding violently with the pounding of her own heartbeat.

He was trying to protect me.

The thought felt like a key turning in a locked door inside her chest. It did not erase the humiliation or the private doubt, but it changed their shape. It was not indifference. It was not a cruel game. It was a catastrophic, arrogant, boneheaded attempt to shield her. From a predator.

Her mind, which had been a storm of hurt, suddenly settled into a chilling, steady calm. He saw a human monster. He thought she was just a human girl. A strange, almost hysterical laugh threatened to rise in her throat. He had no idea. No idea about the gentle but powerful legacy running through her veins.

She saw him then, through the window. A dark, defeated silhouette on the sidewalk, his shoulders slumped. He was walking away, believing he had failed.

And something inside her, the Healer, the part of her that mended broken things, rebelled at the sight. He was broken too. By his family. By this mess. By his own terrible, misguided choices. And he was walking into the dark alone, thinking it was the only honorable path left.

The thought came instantly, bypassing her anger and pride.

I cannot let him do that.

"Wait..." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The word left her lips before she could stop it, softer than she intended.

He stopped. His entire body went still. Then slowly, he turned back. The hope that flashed across his face was raw and unguarded, so stark it made her breath catch. He took a hesitant step toward the house, his eyes searching hers through the glass, waiting for permission. Waiting for a sign.

She did not move from the center of the room, but she held his gaze. The storm in her eyes had not disappeared, but it had changed direction. It was no longer a hurricane of pain. It was the electric calm before a decision. She had just realized where the real battle was, and he was walking away without the most important truth. Her.

Georgia did not think. Her body moved before her mind could warn her, before her pride could build another wall. One moment she was standing in the quiet living room, and the next she was pushing through the front door, her footsteps fast on the path.

He was still turned toward her, his face a fragile mix of hope and confusion. She did not slow down. She closed the distance between them and threw her arms around him, burying her face into his shoulder.

For a second, he froze in shock.

Then a shaky breath left him, and his arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly, desperately, like she was a lifeline he thought he had already lost.

She pulled back just enough to look up at him, her hands gripping the front of his wrinkled shirt. Tears still clung to her lashes, but her eyes were clear now, burning with fierce, unshakable determination.

"I will help you," she said, her voice low but vibrating with conviction.