Chapter 14
Carson sat in the safe house living room at three AM, weapon on the coffee table, laptop open to surveillance feeds and case files.
He hadn’t slept. Couldn’t sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Eugene with that knife at Nora’s throat. Saw the spray-painted message: FOUND YOU AGAIN.
Eugene was out there. Hunting. Planning. And Carson had failed to stop him.
The bedroom door opened quietly. Nora emerged in pajamas and one of his sweatshirts, her hair messy from sleep she clearly hadn’t been getting either.
“You should be resting,” Carson said without looking up.
“So should you.” She moved to the couch but didn’t sit. “How long have you been out here?”
“A few hours.”
“That’s a lie. You never came to bed.”
He finally looked at her. She had dark circles under her eyes, and the bandage on her throat was a stark reminder of how close he’d come to losing her.
“I needed to review the case files,” Carson said. “Make sure we didn’t miss anything about Eugene’s connections. Someone helped him escape. I need to know who.”
“And you couldn’t do that from the bedroom?”
“I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Carson.” She sat down next to him, close enough that he could smell her shampoo. “You’re shutting me out. Like you did at your apartment after we kissed. Like you’re doing now.”
“I’m not shutting you out. I’m focusing on the case.”
“Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.” She closed his laptop. “Talk to me. Really talk to me. What’s going on in your head?”
Carson’s hands clenched into fists. “What’s going on is that I failed. Eugene escaped because I got complacent. Because I was too busy playing house with you at that cabin instead of making sure he was secured properly.”
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s the truth.” He stood, needing distance. “I let myself get distracted. Let myself believe we could have something normal when I should have been vigilant. And now you’re in danger again because of my mistakes.”
“Your mistakes?” Nora stood too, anger flashing in her eyes. “You’re the one who caught Eugene in the first place. Who shot him to save my life. Who’s been protecting me since the beginning. This isn’t on you.”
“Yes, it is! That’s my job—to protect people. To catch criminals and make sure they stay caught. And I failed. Just like I failed Lily.”
There it was. The truth he’d been avoiding.
Nora’s expression softened. “This isn’t about Lily.”
“Isn’t it? Every time I care about someone, every time I try to protect them, I fail. My sister disappeared on my watch. My dad died because I wasn’t there. And now Eugene is out there because I let my guard down.”
She reached out, covering his hand with her own. “Carson, you can’t control everything. You can’t save everyone. And you can’t live your entire life trying to make up for something that wasn’t your fault to begin with.”
He pulled away, severing their connection. “You don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand.” She moved closer, reaching for his hand again. “Tell me what you’re so afraid of.”
“I’m afraid of losing you!” The words burst out of him, raw and desperate. “I’m afraid that if I let myself love you—really love you—something will happen and you’ll be taken from me just like everyone else I’ve cared about. And I don’t know if I can survive that.”
Tears welled in Nora’s eyes. “So your solution is to push me away first? To protect yourself by keeping me at arm’s length?”
“It’s safer.”
“For who? You?” She pulled her hands free. “Because from where I’m standing, you’re not protecting me. You’re protecting yourself from getting hurt. And in the process, you’re hurting both of us.”
The words hit like a physical blow. Because she was right. He was protecting himself. Building walls because losing her would break him in ways he couldn’t fix.
“I don’t know how to do this,” Carson admitted quietly. “How to love someone and not lose them. How to be what you need without the fear consuming me.”
“You start by trusting me. By letting me in instead of shutting me out.” Nora moved back to him, placing her hands on his chest. “I’m not Lily. I’m not your father. I’m here, right now, choosing you. Choosing us. But you have to meet me halfway.”
Carson covered her hands with his. “What if I fail again? What if Eugene gets to you and I can’t stop him?”
“Then we face that together. But you don’t get to make me feel like loving you is a mistake because you’re scared of losing me.”
She was right. About all of it. He’d been so focused on protecting her that he’d forgotten she was a person with her own agency. Her own choices.
Her own right to be part of the decisions affecting her life.
“I’m sorry,” Carson said. “You’re right. I’ve been shutting you out because I’m terrified. But that’s not fair to you.”
“No, it’s not.” But her voice was gentler now. “I’m scared too, Carson. I’m terrified that Eugene is out there, that he’s coming for me, that everything we built is going to fall apart. But I’d rather face that fear with you than hide from it alone.”
Carson pulled her into his arms, holding her tight. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Probably not.” She pressed her face into his chest. “But you’re stuck with me anyway.”
They stood there, wrapped around each other, finding comfort in the contact. After a moment, Nora pulled back to look at him.
“Come to bed,” she said. “Not to sleep necessarily. Just to be together. To remind ourselves why we’re fighting so hard for this.”
Carson kissed her forehead. “Okay.”
They went to the bedroom, and Carson lay down next to her, pulling her close. She tucked herself against his chest, her fingers tracing patterns on his shirt.
“Tell me something good,” Nora said quietly. “Something about the future. About what happens after we catch Eugene.”
“What do you want to happen?”
“I want normal. I want to go on actual dates with you. I want to meet your friends and have you meet Lila properly. I want to figure out what we are without danger and adrenaline coloring everything.”
“I want that too.” Carson’s hand moved to her hair, stroking gently.
“I want to take you to dinner at the good Italian place downtown. I want to bring you to the station and show you off to everyone who said I’d never settle down.
I want to wake up next to you without worrying someone’s trying to kill you. ”
“That sounds perfect.”
“And after that...” He hesitated. “After that, I want to see where this goes. See if you can stand living with someone who works crazy hours and is terrible at emotional conversations.”
Nora propped herself up on her elbow. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”
“Eventually. When you’re ready. When we’re ready.
” He brushed a strand of hair from her face.
“I know it’s fast. I know we’re supposed to take things slow.
But I can’t imagine my life without you in it, Nora.
Can’t imagine coming home to an empty apartment after a long shift.
Can’t imagine not having you to talk to, to hold, to love. ”
“I want that too.” She kissed him softly. “All of it. The messy parts and the scary parts and the beautiful parts.”
They kissed again, deeper this time, and Carson felt some of the fear ease. She was here. She was his. And he was going to do everything in his power to keep her safe.
Not by pushing her away.
But by trusting her. Trusting them.
***
Morning came with a phone call that made Carson’s blood run cold.
He answered on the second ring. “Black.”
“We found Eugene’s hideout,” Finn said without preamble. “Abandoned warehouse on the east side. But, Carson...you need to see this.”
“I’m on my way.”
He ended the call and looked at Nora, who’d woken when his phone rang. “They found where Eugene’s been hiding. I need to go check it out.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Nora—”
“Don’t.” She sat up. “Don’t tell me I have to stay here where it’s safe. If this is about me, I deserve to see it. I deserve to be part of this.”
Carson wanted to argue. Wanted to lock her in this safe house where nothing could hurt her.
But he’d promised to trust her. To stop shutting her out.
“Okay,” he said. “But you stay in the car until I clear the scene. And if I tell you to leave, you leave. No arguments.”
“Deal.”
They drove to the warehouse with two patrol cars following. The building was exactly what Carson expected—rundown, graffitied, surrounded by chain-link fence.
Finn met them at the entrance, his expression grim.
“Show me,” Carson said.
They entered the warehouse, and Carson immediately understood Finn’s reaction.
The walls were covered with photographs. Hundreds of them. All of Nora.
Nora at work. Nora at the grocery store. Nora at the coffee shop with Lila. Nora walking down the street. Nora through her apartment window.
Years’ worth of surveillance. Obsession.
In the center of the room was a makeshift shrine. Nora’s photo surrounded by news clippings about her father, about the embezzlement case, about Robert Whitmore’s suicide.
And written across the largest photo in red marker: SOON.
“Jesus,” Carson breathed.
“There’s more.” Finn led him to a corner where a laptop sat open. “He’s been tracking her digital footprint. Social media, email, even her banking records. He hacked everything.”
Carson’s hands clenched into fists. The level of obsession, the planning—this had been going on for years. Not months. Years.
“Does she know?” Finn asked quietly.
“Not yet.” Carson looked back at the entrance where Nora waited in the car. “She doesn’t need to see this.”
“Carson, she deserves to know what she’s up against.”
“I know.” But the thought of her seeing these photos, seeing the depth of Eugene’s obsession, made him want to put his fist through the wall.
He took photos of everything with his phone, documented the scene, helped bag evidence. The whole time, his mind was racing.
Eugene had been planning this for years. Had been watching Nora, learning her patterns, waiting for the perfect moment.
And now he was free.
Hunting.