Chapter 21
Carter
As Carter opened his eyes, memories of the previous night lingered in his mind like a beautiful dream. Sunlight streamed through the windows, making him shut his eyes for a moment before adjusting to the brightness. The fresh morning air carried a slight chill through the room.
For a few blissful seconds, he simply lay there staring at the ceiling, feeling lighter than he had in years. Then instinct made him turn toward the other side of the bed. The smile on his face faded when he found it empty.
"Elena?"
His voice carried through the quiet apartment, met only by silence.
Frowning, Carter sat up and wrapped a sheet around his waist before stepping into the hallway.
The bathroom was the first place he checked.
Surely she was in there, getting ready for the day.
He expected to hear running water or the hum of a hairdryer. Instead, the room was empty.
A small frown appeared between his brows. Elena had always been an early riser. She was probably in the kitchen making coffee. The image came easily to him—her standing by the counter, a mug warming her hands as the city slowly woke around her.
But when he stepped into the kitchen, he found it empty.
The last traces of sleep vanished instantly. Carter checked the living room next, then the guest room, then the balcony overlooking the city. With each empty space, the uneasy feeling in his chest grew heavier.
She wasn't there.
Returning to the bedroom, Carter dragged a hand through his hair and exhaled slowly. His gaze swept the room one more time, lingering on the empty side of the bed. That was when he noticed something sitting neatly on the bedside table.
His clothes had been folded with meticulous care, and a small note rested on top of the stack.
"Oh, great."
The words left him in a dry mutter.
A note was never a good sign.
He crossed the room and picked it up. Somehow, he already knew he wasn't going to like what it said.
Carter,
Thank you for everything. I don't regret last night, but I really don't need anything complicated right now. It would be wise for us to keep some distance between us.
— Elena
Carter stared at the note for several long seconds before reading it again. Maybe he'd missed something the first time. Maybe the words would somehow make more sense on a second reading.
They didn't.
A short laugh escaped him.
She had left while he was sleeping. She hadn't even stayed long enough to face him in the morning. Elena had actually abandoned her own apartment before sunrise to avoid having a conversation with him.
"Seriously?"
He rubbed a hand over his face and closed his eyes. Under any other circumstances, he might have found it funny. It was such an Elena thing to do. Only Elena would run from her own home after a night that should have changed everything between them.
The more he thought about it, the less irritated he became. Beneath the frustration, he recognized something else entirely. She wasn't running because she regretted what had happened.
She was running because she was scared.
The realization softened something inside him.
After everything that had happened, he couldn't blame her.
He had disappeared from her life for four years without an explanation.
Last night had been an indulgence, a moment neither of them had been able to resist. Now she was left dealing with what it meant.
"I don't blame you, sweetheart," he murmured quietly.
He had spent months walking a fine line–close enough to be near her, never close enough to tell her the truth.
Carter dreaded the day he would have to tell Elena the truth about Julia.
She didn't deserve that kind of betrayal.
Julia wasn't just her aunt. She was the only parent figure in Elena's life.
Learning that Julia had blackmailed him into leaving her by threatening his family would shatter something fundamental inside her.
A part of him worried she wouldn't believe him. But that wasn't what scared him most.
What scared him was watching the light go out of her eyes.
Seeing the certainty she had carried all her life ripped away in a single conversation.
So he had done everything he could to delay the inevitable, even if it meant she hated him.
Even if it meant the woman he loved didn't trust him. Even if it meant she kept running from him.
For months, he had pursued her. Every time she pulled away, he found himself moving closer.
Maybe that wasn't what she needed right now.
Carter picked up his shirt and began buttoning it slowly. A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he folded the note and slipped it into his pocket. Elena seemed to believe distance would somehow solve their problem. What she didn't realize was that the problem wasn't him.
It was the fact that she still loved him.
That truth wasn't going anywhere, no matter how many notes she left behind. No matter how early she ran. No matter how much space she put between them.
Carter grabbed his jacket and headed for the door.
"Fine, Elena," he said softly to the empty apartment. "I'll give you your distance."
This wasn't a battle he could win by pushing harder. If she needed time, he would give her time.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he reached for the handle.
"But you're not getting rid of me that easily."
****
Carter sat across from Lennox's desk, his patience wearing thinner by the day.
For weeks, he had been digging into Julia Leclair's affairs, chasing lead after lead in the hope of finding something concrete.
Every trail pointed in the same direction.
Julia was hiding something. The problem was that suspicion wasn't proof, and proof was exactly what he needed.
Lennox slid a folder across the desk.
Something in his expression immediately caught Carter's attention. Lennox wasn't a man who rattled easily, which meant whatever was inside that folder wasn't routine.
A knot formed in Carter's stomach as he opened it.
The first photograph stopped him cold.
"What the hell?"
His gaze locked on the image. The photo had been taken through the window of a luxury penthouse suite. The angle was poor, but it didn't need to be any clearer.
He recognized them instantly.
Julia.
And Kyle.
For several seconds, Carter simply stared at the photograph. Then he flipped to the next image. And the next.
Each one told the same story.
"No," he muttered.
His jaw tightened painfully as he continued through the file. There was no innocent explanation for this.
"Yeah," Lennox said grimly. "They're sleeping together."
Carter's gaze snapped up.
Lennox leaned back in his chair. "I dug deeper after we got the first photos. Same hotels. Same dates. They checked in separately under fake names, but the records match. Different cities, different times, same pattern. They've been meeting for months."
The revelation sat heavily in Carter's stomach.
Julia wasn't just Elena's aunt. She was a family member Elena genuinely loved and trusted. After her parents died, Julia had practically helped raise her.
How the hell could she do this to her own niece?
The thought turned Carter's stomach.
Elena had already lived through one devastating betrayal.
That son of a bitch Kyle had cheated on her with other women.
Elena was just recovering from that. If she learned that Julia had betrayed her too, that the woman she loved and trusted most had been carrying on an affair with her husband, it would destroy something far deeper.
"I don't have to tell her this," Carter said quietly, the words sounding hollow even to his own ears.
God, he hated keeping things from Elena.
One secret had already cost him almost everything.
Julia's blackmail had driven him out of Elena's life four years ago, and he still hadn't found the right moment to tell her the truth.
Every day he delayed, that omission remained between them.
It fed her doubts, fueled her mistrust, and made it harder for her to believe in him completely.
And now there was another one.
His grip tightened around the folder.
Only yesterday, William had told him that Elena had got a restraining order against Kyle. This was too much.
Carter stared down at the photographs for a long moment before leaning back in his chair. Everyone saw the same thing when they looked at Elena—a strong, confident woman who could handle anything life threw at her.
But they didn't know her the way he did.
He knew how deeply she felt things. How long she carried her wounds, even when she pretended she was fine. He knew she would survive this too. Elena always survived.
That didn't mean it wouldn't break her heart first.
"I should tell her," he murmured as if trying to convince himself.
But he couldn't..not yet..not while she was still trying to heal. Not while she was barely holding herself together.
Not now.
Lennox cleared his throat.
"Carter."
The sound pulled him back to the present. Carter looked up to find Lennox studying him carefully. Apparently he had been silent longer than he realized.
"That's not all," Lennox said.
Carter immediately focused.
"What else?"
Before Carter could dwell any longer on what the photos meant for Elena, Lennox opened another file and pushed it across the desk.
Carter looked up sharply.
Lennox tapped a finger against the documents.
"I've been hearing things. Kyle's been shopping around a private real-estate investment fund. On paper, it looks legitimate. The numbers are attractive. The projected returns are even better."
The pause that followed immediately put Carter on alert.
"But?"
"But some of the properties he's using to attract investors either don't exist or aren't worth anywhere near what he's claiming."
Carter's expression hardened.
"So he's running a scam."
"Looks that way." Lennox leaned back in his chair.
"He's pulling money from private investors, funneling it through a maze of shell companies, and making it damn near impossible to track where it ends up.
A few people in the financial world have started sniffing around, but nobody has enough to nail him yet. "
Carter glanced down at the documents.
For years, he'd assumed Kyle was just an arrogant bastard with too much money and too little character.
Apparently, he'd been giving the man too much credit.
"Hmm."
Carter tapped his fingers against the desk thoughtfully. Kyle was reckless, arrogant, and greedy. But orchestrating something this elaborate?
For some reason, he doubted it. Then another possibility occurred to him.
"Do you think Julia is involved?"
Lennox shrugged.
"No evidence yet. No rumors connecting her directly. But who knows."
Carter knew.
Maybe not on paper. Maybe not in a way that would hold up in court. But after everything he'd learned about Julia, he would have bet his life she was connected somehow.
Kyle wasn't smart enough for something like this.
No, this had Julia written all over it.
Let Kyle play the fool in public. Let everyone focus on him. Meanwhile, Julia would be standing quietly in the background, pulling the strings and making sure nobody looked too closely in her direction.
After all, he had recently agreed to invest ten million dollars into Waldorf Fashion. Julia owned the company and had practically pushed for the investment herself. At the time he'd viewed it as an opportunity to stay close and watch her.
Now it looked even more interesting.
If Julia was involved, then there was a chance he was the biggest target.
And if she tried to scam him out of ten million dollars, she would be making the biggest mistake of her life.
This time, he could catch her red-handed.
The thought of Julia betraying Elena made his blood boil. The urge to destroy her was stronger than ever.
A slow smile appeared on Carter's face. But there was nothing amused about it. It was the smile of a man who had finally found an opening.
He grabbed his phone and rose to his feet.
Across the desk, Lennox recognized the look immediately.
God help Julia Leclair.
Aaron answered on the second ring.
"Carter?"
"I need a favor."
Aaron sighed.
"It usually means somebody's life is about to get difficult."
His gaze dropped to the photographs scattered across Lennox's desk. Julia. Kyle. The lies. The betrayal.
And Elena caught in the middle of it all.
"Call your friends at the FBI," he said calmly.
"I think somebody's trying to scam me out of fifty million dollars.”