The paper still had traces of dried tears on it Whitney’s and my own fell now, dampening the ink further. I lay in Lewis’s arms, soaking his shirt, unable to stop. I had never been soone who cried easily, but since my rebirth sothing in had co loose. Grief found faster than it used to.
I hated how powerless it made feel. I had co back lived again and what did I have to show for it? No special gifts, no hidden strength, no edge that the stories always promised. Just enemies who had been circling for years, patient and invisible, waiting for the first real crack to split open.
"Carl, I’m powerless. All I can do is watch Whitney walk into danger."
Lewis stroked my hair slowly. "Elena, we’re not gods. Even gods have limits. We can’t save everyone living our own lives well is already sothing. Your sister and I talked. Properly."
I looked up at him. "What did she say?"
"She said the life she’s been living feels like reaching for sothing that turned out to be nothing like she imagined. She doesn’t want to keep grasping for it. She just wants to go back to the person she was before all of this. Vito protected her for twenty years. Now she wants to protect him." He paused. "She said even if we tied everyone around her down, we still couldn’t bind her heart. She wanted to tell you that whatever happens, she won’t regret it. Her greatest regret was leaving Vito on Rosbel Island. If this ends badly, she’s prepared to face that end with him. Living without him is too bitter."
More tears fell. I couldn’t stop them. In my mind I saw flashes soone moving through place after place, alone, from the soft colors of spring all the way into winter’s silence. Day after day. Year after year. Until even the will to continue quietly ran dry.
"Yes," I whispered. "Living alone truly is too hard."
We can’t decide how other people live their lives. All we can do is hold onto our own and try to be present in it that’s where happiness actually lives. Lewis pressed his lips to the top of my head, holding them there.
"Whitney has a tracker on her, a listening device, and so ergency tools I put together. I’ve positioned people nearby to watch over her. But to avoid blowing her cover, they have to keep their distance. I can’t promise a hundred percent." He said it plainly, without softening it, because he knew I’d see through anything less. If every operation went perfectly, the world wouldn’t be full of people who gave everything and still didn’t make it back.
"When the ti cos, Whitney will pass along certain information, and we’ll use it to make Vito’s side of things easier."
I lowered my head. "I understand."
Whether it was Vito or Whitney, all we could offer was support from the edges. Their survival depended on them. And they weren’t facing ordinary enemies Luther was nothing like the Blackwells. He sat closer to the center of real power. Even Vito had never seen his face, which ant his position sat above everyone they’d encountered before.
A man like that didn’t make mistakes.
Lewis exhaled slowly. "I didn’t want to tell you right away. I was worried you’d carry it constantly, and you’re already carrying enough. But I knew you wouldn’t let it go, so it was better to be honest." He tilted my chin up gently. "Promise you’ll take care of yourself, Elena. You have our children inside you. The ones we waited two lifetis for."
"Okay," I said softly.
I swallowed the rest of my tears and pressed my face against his chest, holding still. All I could do now was hope.
"Will Whitney go looking for Luther before the event? There are still two days, right?"
"Yes. She’ll let herself seem lost, a little vulnerable soone who needs help. Luther’s a doctor at his core. He’ll bring her sowhere he feels in control." Lewis said it calmly, but I felt my hands curl into fists at my sides.
What was that if not walking straight into the den of sothing far more dangerous than she was ready for?
"Carl," I said quietly, "now I understand how you felt when you knew I was at Blackwell Residence."
It was the sa helplessness. The sa locked-out feeling.
The only thing keeping steady now was the life growing inside two heartbeats that were mine to protect, even when I couldn’t protect anyone else.
Back ho, Jeffrey’s face lit up the mont he saw the checkup report. "Wonderful, my girl! You’re a true hero of this family!" He straightened in his chair. "Arnold bring it."
"Yes, sir."
I glanced at Lewis, uncertain what was coming.
Arnold returned carrying a docunt. I looked it over, and my breath caught. It was a share transfer agreent ten percent of the Hale Group, signed over to . Ten percent. Luke Hale and his father combined only held seven. Jeffrey was handing , soone who had married into this family, more than either of them.
"Dad, this is too much," I said, still processing it.
"Take it," he said firmly. "Call it a gift from a grandfather to his grandchild." He broke into a short cough, pressing his hand to his mouth. "I don’t have much ti left. My greatest wish before I go is to clear the rot from this house. This family cannot fall because of I couldn’t face those who ca before us if it did."
"Dad, you’ll live a long and healthy life," Lewis said, his voice leaving no room for argunt.
Jeffrey let out a quiet sound, sowhere between a laugh and a sigh. "What’s the point in dragging it out? I imagine Jane has been waiting for long enough already. I wonder if she’ll still recognize this old face when she sees it."
Every ti he said her na, sothing in his eyes went sowhere else sowhere softer, sowhere only he could reach. He had loved her the way so people only love once. Fate had taken her anyway.
"Alright," Jeffrey said, his tone shifting into sothing final. "Elena is tired. Take her back to rest. And whatever you hear tonight inside this house or out do not co out of that room."
The weight in his words settled over everything like a held breath.
What exactly was going to happen at the Hale Residence tonight?
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