Chapter 56 Harper
Harper
Isat on the edge of the bed, the silence pressing heavy around me. The cabin walls felt close, every shadow reminding me I was locked away while Carter mapped out how to fight the war with my name stamped all over it.
I hated the way it made me feel—helpless, small. But underneath the anger was something worse: the ache of knowing he didn’t trust me enough to stand with him.
The floor creaked in the hall. I lifted my head just as Carter filled the doorway, broad shoulders framed by dim light. He looked… haunted. The soldier still bristled under his skin, but his eyes—God, his eyes—were tired, torn.
“Harper,” he said, his voice low, rough.
I pulled the flannel tighter around me, bracing for another order, another stay put. “If you’re here to tell me again that I can’t be part of this—”
“I’m not.” His tone cut me off, firm but soft.
He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. For a long moment, he just stood there, staring at me like I was both his salvation and the thing breaking him apart. Then he sank down on the bed beside me, his hands restless before they finally found mine.
“I’ve been wrong,” he admitted, his voice raw. “Thinking I could keep you safe by keeping you out. That’s not what you need. Hell, it’s not what we need.”
My throat tightened. “So what now?”
He lifted his gaze, and the weight in his eyes nearly undid me. “Now I tell you everything. No more half-truths. No more shutting you out. If you’re in this with me, then you’re in it.”
The words knocked the breath out of me. For days I’d felt like a ghost in my own story—hunted but silent, alive but powerless. And now, finally, he was pulling me into the fire instead of trying to shield me from it.
I squeezed his hand, tears stinging my eyes. “That’s all I wanted, Carter. Not to be hidden. To be trusted.”
He leaned in, pressing his forehead to mine, his breath hot and steady. “You have my trust. All of it. But I need you to promise me something too.”
“What?” I whispered.
“That when I say run—you run. That you give me the chance to fight for you, even while you fight beside me.”
I nodded, my heart pounding with equal parts fear and relief. “Deal.”
And for the first time since this nightmare began, I felt like we weren’t just surviving anymore. We were fighting back—together.