Chapter 32 Harper
Harper
The first thing I felt when I woke was warmth. Not fear, not cold concrete, not the weight of chains. Just the heavy cocoon of a blanket and the faint scent of soap and leather that clung to Carter.
For a blissful second, I let myself pretend. Pretend that the night before had been nothing more than a nightmare. Pretend I wasn’t marked by men who saw me as leverage. Pretend I wasn’t shaking apart inside.
Then I opened my eyes.
The couch was unfamiliar, the morning light cutting sharp across the blinds, and Carter wasn’t beside me.
I sat up quickly, heart thudding until I spotted him by the door. His body was tense, his head bent close to River’s and Gideon’s. They spoke in low voices, clipped and serious, and though I couldn’t hear every word, I knew enough.
This wasn’t over.
Carter must’ve felt me watching because he turned. For a moment, his face softened, his eyes warming like sunlight breaking through storm clouds. But just as quickly, the steel came back, the mask sliding into place before he opened the door wider and stepped inside.
“You’re awake,” he said gently, but the rasp in his voice told me he hadn’t slept. Not at all.
I swallowed hard. “You were watching over me all night, weren’t you?”
He didn’t deny it. Just crouched in front of me again, his hand brushing mine as if to reassure himself I was really there. “I wasn’t going to let you wake up alone.”
The ache in my chest nearly split me open. “Carter… you can’t carry this all by yourself.”
His jaw flexed, but his eyes—those fierce, tortured eyes—burned into mine. “I don’t know how to do anything else when it comes to you.”
I wanted to argue. To demand answers about what River and Gideon had told him, because I could see the shadows clinging to his shoulders. But the truth was, I was afraid. Afraid of the answer. Afraid of the storm that was still out there waiting for us.
So instead, I curled my fingers into his, anchoring us both. “Then don’t push me out. If we’re in this, we’re in it together.”
For the first time since the warehouse, I saw something flicker through him—not just fury, but hope.
And even though the world outside these walls felt like it was closing in, in that moment, I let myself believe we could fight it. Side by side.