Chapter 19
Carter
"Aunt Julia, this is the investor you've been dying to meet."
"And Mr. Evans, this is the board member who's been desperately trying to corner me into arranging that meeting."
Before either of them could react, Elena was gone. She slipped out of the office with the speed of someone escaping a burning building. The glass door swung shut behind her, leaving Carter standing face-to-face with the one woman he had spent the last four years planning revenge on.
Julia Leclair looked as though she had seen a ghost.
For a split second, all the color drained from her face. The confidence disappeared. The polished smile vanished.
Fear flashed openly in her eyes before she could hide it, and that single expression told Carter more than any investigation ever could.
Then, almost unbelievably, she recovered.
A warm smile settled onto her lips as though she hadn't looked seconds away from fainting.
"Mr. Evans," she greeted smoothly. "What a lovely surprise."
Carter nearly laughed.
Of course she was smiling now. Four years ago she had looked at him like he wasn't good enough to breathe the same air as her family. Now he was one of the wealthiest investors in the country, and suddenly he was worthy of pleasant conversation.
How convenient.
"What?" Julia asked when she noticed the amusement on his face.
Carter folded his arms.
"Do you believe in karma, Ms. Leclair?"
The smile on her face faltered.
"I'm sorry?"
"You know," Carter said softly. "That thing where every bad deed eventually catches up to you. No matter how carefully you bury it. No matter how many years pass. Eventually it comes back."
Julia went perfectly still.
The silence stretched between them.
Carter watched her eyes widen. Her throat moved as she swallowed. The understanding dawn across her features, followed immediately by fear.
Good.
"Funny thing about the past," he continued. "People spend years convincing themselves it's gone. Then one day it walks right back through the front door."
Without another word, Carter turned and walked away. He didn't need to say anything else. The message had landed exactly where he'd intended.
As he breezed past the reception desk, a stray splash of cream caught his eye.
There, sitting completely abandoned on the counter like a lonely prop in a theater lobby, was a designer handbag.
He didn't even need a second look. It was Elena's.
A slow smirk tugged at his mouth as the hilarious reality of the situation set in.
She had been so frantically desperate to flee the room that she’d forgotten her purse behind like a panicked Cinderella.
Honestly, he felt a unique mix of a bruised ego and genuine entertainment.
It seemed that being a newly minted billionaire still couldn't buy him five uninterrupted minutes in a room with Elena Waldorf.
Perfect.
He scooped up the leather strap, weighing it in his hand with a triumphant grin. If she wanted her lipgloss and keys back, she was going to have to face him. Returning this was the ultimate, un-turn-downable excuse to force his way back into her day.
***
Thank god for William. Knowing the whole truth meant William was firmly on his side, which was the only reason Carter was currently in an elevator heading straight for Elena’s front door.
The elevator dinged, the doors opening to the hallway. But before he could even step out, a sound cut through the quiet: Elena, somewhere inside her apartment, screaming at the top of her lungs.
His entire body went rigid.
"No. Let go of me."
Carter's head snapped up.
Halfway down the hallway, a man had Elena pinned against the wall. She was struggling to push him away while he continued reaching for her. The sight hit Carter like a physical blow, sending pure fury crashing through him so violently that for a second he couldn't think.
Then instinct took over.
He crossed the distance in seconds.
One moment the man was grabbing Elena.
The next Carter had him by the collar.
"What the—"
The sentence never finished.
Carter slammed his fist into the man's jaw.
The impact echoed through the hallway.
The man stumbled backward, but Carter didn't stop. Years of discipline shattered beneath the sight of Elena fighting someone off. Every protective instinct he possessed exploded to life at once, drowning out reason and logic.
How dare he force her.
How dare he put his hands on her.
He landed another punch to the bastard's face.
Kyle Montgomery crashed to the floor.
Carter barely noticed.
All he could see was Elena looking frightened. All he could think about was arriving seconds too late. Rage surged through him with every blow until the man was covering his face and desperately trying to crawl away.
"Carter."
Her voice cut through the fury.
Carter instantly turned his head.
Elena stood a few feet away staring at him. Her breathing was uneven from the struggle. Strands of hair had fallen loose around her face. Yet her eyes weren't fixed on the man lying on the floor.
They were fixed on him.
"Carter," there was relief in her voice.
His rage vanished instantly.
As though someone had flipped a switch.
The man on the floor clearly noticed too because he scrambled backward the moment Carter released him. Within seconds he was on his feet and practically running down the hallway. Carter didn't bother chasing him.
"Are you okay?" Carter asked gently.
Elena didn't answer right away. She simply nodded while staring at the floor, her arms wrapped around herself as if she were trying to hold herself together.
The hallway lights cast soft shadows across her face, making her look even more fragile than she already did.
One look at her trembling lips told him she was dangerously close to tears.
A fresh wave of rage surged through him.
The only reason he wasn't chasing Kyle Montgomery down the hallway was because Elena needed him more right now. Every instinct in his body demanded violence after what he had witnessed.
But Elena came first.
She remained leaning against the wall as though her legs could no longer support her weight. She refused to lift her gaze from the floor. Seeing her like this twisted something painfully inside his chest.
His eyes landed on the handbag lying several feet away. He had tossed it aside the second he heard her screaming. Walking over, he picked it up and brushed his thumb across the soft leather before returning to her side. He held it out toward her with a small smile.
"You forgot this at the office."
Elena barely reacted. Her eyes flickered toward the bag for less than a second before dropping back to the floor. She made no move to take it from him. The emptiness in her expression worried him more than the tears threatening to fall.
Carter frowned slightly and opened the handbag.
He searched inside until he found her apartment keys tucked into one of the compartments.
Normally he would have asked permission first, but right now she looked too overwhelmed to care about formalities.
He simply took the keys and moved toward her door.
"Come on," he said quietly.
She followed him without protest. That alone told him how shaken she was because Elena Waldorf always had something to say. The silence felt wrong coming from her. He unlocked the apartment and pushed the door open before guiding her inside.
The scent of vanilla and fresh flowers greeted him immediately. Elena walked past him and sank onto the couch as though all her strength had suddenly disappeared. Her shoulders slumped forward, and she stared blankly at the coffee table. For several seconds neither of them spoke.
"I'll get you some water," Carter said.
She nodded again. The gesture was small and automatic. It hurt him to see her so withdrawn. This wasn't the fiery woman who constantly challenged him.
He disappeared into the kitchen and found a glass. While filling it, he forced himself to breathe and regain control of his temper. The urge to go back downstairs and finish what he had started with Kyle was still very much alive. Only Elena's presence kept him rooted where he was.
When he returned to the living room, his heart nearly stopped.
Elena was crying.
Silent tears streamed down her cheeks as she sat curled into herself on the couch. She wasn't making a sound, which somehow made it worse. The sight shattered something inside him.
"Hey," Carter said softly.
She quickly wiped at her face. More tears replaced the ones she brushed away. Her attempts to hide them only made his chest ache harder. He set the glass down and crouched in front of her.
"You're safe now," he told her gently.
Elena nodded again, but the tears continued falling. Carter hated how helpless she looked. He hated that someone had frightened her this badly. Most of all, he hated that he couldn't simply erase what had happened.
For a moment he hesitated.
Then he carefully reached out and brushed a tear from her cheek. Her eyes lifted to meet his for the first time since they'd entered the apartment. The vulnerability he found there nearly broke him.
"Do you want a hug?" he asked quietly.