Chapter 28
Elena
The first thing that came back to her was the smell. The rich, earthy scent of wet soil and rain.
Elena slowly opened her eyes. The world was a blur of dark shadows, and a sharp, throbbing pain pulsed at the back of her head.
She groaned, trying to lift her hand to her forehead, but her arms felt completely heavy.
For a terrifying second, the panic rushed back—the ropes, the darkness, her aunt's cruel laugh—
"Elena. Elena, look at me. Breathe, sweetheart, I’ve got you."
The voice was rough and shaking with fear, but it was the most comforting sound she had ever heard.
Elena blinked, her vision finally clearing in the dim light.
She wasn't tied to the beam anymore. She was lying on the wet ground, her head resting perfectly in Carter's lap.
He was leaning over her, his hair soaked from the rain and his clothes covered in dirt.
His hands trembled as he gently held her face.
Above them, the greenhouse roof was completely shattered. The worst of the storm had passed, leaving just a gentle rain falling over them. The heavy glass panels that had almost crushed her lay in broken pieces a few feet away.
“Are you okay, Elena? The ambulance is on its way."
His voice cut through the haze in her mind.
Elena blinked slowly, struggling to make sense of what had happened. Moments ago, she'd been certain she was going to die. She could still hear the crash of shattering glass. Still felt the terror that had gripped her when the roof began to collapse.
But none of that seemed important now.
Because Carter was here.
His face was inches from hers, rain dripping from his dark hair, his brown eyes filled with a fear she'd never seen before. He looked exhausted, soaked, and utterly terrified for her.
And somehow, that hurt her heart more than the storm ever could.
"Carter?" she whispered.
She reached up and grabbed a fistful of his wet shirt, needing to feel him beneath her fingers, needing proof that he was real and she wasn't imagining this.
"I'm fine. How... how did you get here?"
Carter let out a shaky breath that sounded like a sob. He pulled her up and held her so tightly against his chest that she could feel the frantic, hammering beat of his heart. He buried his face in her neck, holding her like he was afraid she might disappear.
"Did you really think I’d just let you leave?" he whispered against her skin, his fingers gently tangling in her damp hair.
"I guessed you would go to confront Julia, so I came looking for you. I was so worried about you, Elena. But the traffic was terrible because of the storm. By the time I ran through the gates, the roof was already falling. I’m so sorry.
I’m so sorry I didn't get here fast enough to stop her from hurting you. "
Elena felt a warm tear mix with the rain on her cheek. All the anger she had felt earlier was completely gone. "No," she said softly, pulling back just enough to look into his eyes. "You came for me. You saved my life."
Suddenly, she remembered what happened and panicked. She tried to sit up, ignoring the pain in her head. "Julia... Carter, she did it all. Everything you said was true. She hit your family. She slept with Kyle. She was packing her bags to run away—"
"Hey, calm down. Look at me," Carter interrupted gently, using his thumb to wipe a tear from her cheek. "She didn't get away, Elena. The FBI stopped her car at the edge of the property. She’s in handcuffs right now. They got Kyle as well."
Elena stared at him, her chest heaving as the adrenaline began to fade, leaving only a hollow, heavy ache.
"Carter, I... I'm so sorry," she breathed, her voice cracking as she looked at him through the soft drizzle.
"I'm sorry for everything I said. But even if we know the truth now... we still don't have any actual proof. We don't have any evidence linking her to the hit-and-run."
A small, incredibly relieved smile broke through the exhaustion on Carter's face.
"Oh, we do now," he said softly. "There's something Julia didn't realize."
He pulled his phone out of his pocket. The screen showed that a phone call was still active.
"When you ran out of my apartment, I tried to call you," Carter explained.
"You must have tried to jam your phone into your coat pocket to silence me, but you hit accept instead.
You never hung up. The moment I realized what was happening, I started recording the call and got the FBI on the line.
They heard her confession in real time."
Elena looked at the phone, a breathless laugh escaping her lips.
"We got it all on tape," Carter murmured, his eyes locking onto hers with intense warmth.
"The stealing, the threats, and what she did to my family. William is already on it, making sure she never gets out. It’s finally over, Elena. You’re safe, and the company belongs to you now."
A massive weight lifted off Elena's chest.
All the lies, the betrayal from Kyle, and the cruelty of the aunt she thought she knew—it all washed away in the rain.
But looking up at Carter, she realized none of that actually mattered. The money and the company meant nothing compared to him.
The only thing that mattered was the man who had crawled through shattering glass and a raging storm just to hold her on a dirt floor.
"I was so stupid," Elena whispered, her voice cracking with raw emotion. She reached up, her palms framing his jaw, feeling the rough stubble beneath her fingers.
"I was so naive about everything. And I screamed at you. I pushed you away when you were only trying to protect me from the truth."
"Elena, I am so sorry I kept this from you. I was wrong, and I should have told you from the start," Carter's voice cracked, and she could see the regret etched across every line of his face.
His hand tightened around hers.
"But don't you dare blame yourself for this. She’s your aunt. She was supposed to protect you, not betray you—that is entirely on her. It’s natural to trust the people you love. Please don't punish yourself for having a heart."
Elena looked up at him, her voice finally steady. "When the roof started coming down... when I was trapped in the dark and thought that was it... I wasn't thinking about her. The only thing I regretted was walking out of your apartment. I was terrified I’d never get to tell you."
Carter leaned closer, his chest rising and falling heavily. "Tell me what, Elena?"
"I love you, Carter," she said, looking right into his eyes. "I never stopped loving you. I don't care about the past, and I don't care about the drama. None of it matters. I just want you."
Carter didn't hesitate. He pulled her in and kissed her, fierce and deep, completely silencing the storm around them. When he finally pulled back just enough to breathe, he kept his forehead rested against hers, a breathless, relieved laugh escaping him.
"I’ve loved you since the day you kissed me and ran away after stealing my medal in the library," he whispered, kissing her forehead, then her nose, before catching her lips one more time. "And I am never letting you go again."
Sirens began to wail in the distance, cutting through the whisper of falling rain.
Elena looked at the man she loved and realized something she should have known all along.
For years, she had been searching for where she belonged.
She searched in places.
In dreams.
In the future she thought she wanted.
Only to discover that home had never been a place at all.
It had always been a person.
And as Carter's fingers intertwined with hers, she realized she was exactly where she was meant to be.
Home.