Next
(After the shouting. After Jenn storms inside. The house has gone quiet. Night presses in. This is private.)
The silence wasn't peaceful — it was watchful.
Alden turned first, slipping his keys onto the counter with deliberate calm.
"You shouldn't be here," he said evenly. "Not anymore."
Jeff didn't raise his voice. Didn't smile either.
"You don't get to decide that."
Alden faced him fully. "I do when it's my house. And when it's my life you keep walking into."
Jeff took a step closer, unbothered.
"I'm not walking into anything. Jenn walks to me. That's the difference."
Alden's jaw tightened — just slightly.
"Then ask her."
Jeff frowned. "Ask her what?"
Alden's eyes locked onto his.
"If she's not in love with me."
The words landed — not loud, but heavy.
Silence stretched.
Jeff scoffed quietly. "You think love is something you claim because it existed first?"
Alden's voice dropped. "I think love doesn't disappear because you stop talking."
Jeff's eyes darkened.
"Then why did you stop?"
Alden didn't answer right away.
Instead, he said, "You love her. Fine. But don't step between what you don't understand."
Jeff shook his head once. "I understand enough. She comes to me when you shut her out. She smiles with me when she's tired of guessing with you."
Alden took a slow step forward.
"And she goes home with me."
Jeff stiffened.
Alden continued — measured, controlled, sharp.
"She works for me. Lives under my roof. My name protects her whether you like it or not."
"That's control," Jeff snapped.
Alden didn't deny it.
"It's responsibility."
Jeff laughed bitterly. "You think having power over her means you have her?"
Alden leaned in slightly.
"I think you should ask your lovely girlfriend why she still looks at me the way she does."
Jeff's fists clenched.
"Don't do that," he warned.
"Why?" Alden replied coldly. "Because you're afraid of the answer?"
Jeff exhaled, steadying himself.
"I love her. I won't apologize for that. And I won't step aside because you're scared of losing something you already pushed away."
Alden's eyes hardened.
"You want her? Then be honest with her."
"I am."
"No," Alden said quietly. "You're honest with me. You still hide from what comes after."
Jeff's voice dropped. "And you still pretend distance is protection."
A beat passed.
Then Alden said the thing he hadn't meant to.
"You remember why we split."
Jeff's expression changed instantly.
"You remember what happened when feelings got complicated," Alden continued. "What it cost. What it destroyed."
Jeff swallowed. "That was different."
Alden shook his head slowly.
"It never is."
They stood there — unmoving.
Neither of them backed down.
Jeff finally spoke.
"Whatever happened before won't stop me now."
Alden met his gaze.
"And whatever you think you're building won't erase me."
Alden straightened slowly. "Move."
He needed air. Distance. Control.
Jeff didn't. "Not until we finish this."
Alden scoffed. "You're blocking my car now? That's bold."
"No," Jeff said quietly. "What's bold is pretending you didn't destroy her before I ever touched her."
Alden's grip tightened around the keys. "Careful."
Jeff stepped closer. "You remember how she was when she came here? Quiet. Guarded. Always apologizing like she didn't deserve space?"
Alden turned. "What's your point?"
"My point," Jeff snapped, "is that you treated her like a burden. Like she was lucky to even breathe your air."
Alden laughed once — hollow. "And you think you saved her?"
Jeff's jaw clenched. "I treated her like she mattered."
Alden's eyes darkened. "You dated her to spite me."
Jeff froze. "What?"
Alden stepped forward, voice low and sharp.
"You didn't fall in love. You saw an opening."
Jeff shook his head. "That's not true."
Alden tilted his head. "Then ask yourself why you started looking at her only after she walked into my house."
Jeff swallowed.
The words hit like a slap.
The door slid open.
Jenn stepped in.
Her face was flushed — not from tears, not from fear — but from anger that had nowhere left to go.
Behind her, Jovi and Jovan paused at the doorway. Rosario stood just a step back, eyes sharp, already sensing that this wasn't something to interrupt.
Jenn looked at both men.
Not one.
Both.
"So this is what you do?" she said, voice steady but shaking underneath. "You stand here and talk about me like I'm not five steps away?"
Neither Jeff nor Alden spoke.
That silence snapped something in her.
"You argue about who gets to keep me," she continued, taking another step forward, "like I'm a contract. Like I don't hear every word."
Jeff turned to her immediately. "Jenn, that's not—"
"Don't," she cut in. "Not you. Not him. Not tonight."
Alden finally spoke. "This doesn't concern—"
"It concerns me," she snapped, eyes flashing. "Because my name is the only reason you're standing this close to each other."
Jovi shifted uncomfortably. Jovan muttered, "Yeah… this is bad."
Jenn turned fully to Alden.
"You shut me out," she said, voice rising. "You ignored me. You froze me out like I didn't exist. Then the moment someone else shows up for me, you remember how to speak?"
Alden's jaw tightened. "That's not—"
"And you," she turned to Jeff sharply, "don't stand there acting like you're saving me. I didn't ask to be fought over."
Jeff looked stunned. "Jenn, I was just—"
"You were just proving something," she finished for him. "To him. Not to me."
Rosario finally stepped forward. "Jenn—"
Jenn shook her head. "No, Rosa. I know. I see it. All of it."
She laughed once — hollow.
"You both keep saying my name," she said quietly, "but neither of you is listening to me."
The words landed heavier than shouting.
Alden took a step closer, lowering his voice. "I never said you were owned."
"But you talk like it," Jenn replied. "Like my life is a space you manage."
Jeff opened his mouth again.
She raised her hand.
"Enough."
Silence fell — thick, uncomfortable.
"I'm not a prize," she said, voice breaking just slightly now. "I'm not history. I'm not revenge. I'm not leverage."
She looked at Alden.
Then Jeff.
"If either of you really cares about me," she whispered, "stop trying to win."
Her eyes burned. She didn't wipe them.
Instead, she stepped back.
"I'm done with this," she said simply.
Jenn turned and walked away.
Rosario followed a second later, conflicted but quiet.
Jovi exhaled hard. "Well… that blew up."
Jovan glanced between the two men. "Yeah. And that wasn't about either of you."
The outside was silent again.
Jeff stared at the floor.
Alden didn't move.
And for the first time that night, neither of them had anything left to say.
Two men.
Two histories.
One woman neither of them truly owned.
Jenn locked her door the moment she entered her room.
The sound echoed.
She leaned her back against it and slid down slowly until she was sitting on the floor, knees pulled to her chest.
Her hands were shaking.
"I didn't ask for this," she whispered, voice breaking. "I didn't ask to be fought over like a prize."
Her mind replayed everything at once — Alden's cold authority, Jeff's fierce certainty, the way neither of them had looked at her when they spoke.
Just at each other.
She pressed her palms against her face, breathing unevenly.
"They never even asked me," she said bitterly. "Not once."
A sob escaped before she could stop it.
She cried quietly at first, then harder — the kind of crying that came from being tired of explaining yourself, tired of choosing sides you never wanted to be on.
"I love you," she whispered, not knowing which name belonged there anymore.
That scared her the most.