Love Came Too Late

Third Person's POV

After the call ended, the warehouse at the abandoned dock stayed silent for a few seconds.

Leander Croft sat in a chair with his hands loosely tied by rope. Even the streak of blood on his face had only been painted on by Katrina Byrne.

Katrina removed the voice modulator and let out a quiet laugh. "Think she'll actually come?"

Leander kept his eyes lowered and said nothing.

A few of their childhood friends adjusted the surveillance camera angles nearby. One of them snickered.

"Mila Carver worships the ground he walks on. She loves him more than her own life. If she heard something happened to him, she would crawl here on her hands and knees.

"She proved it seven years ago. She sold the piano her dad left her just to pay his ransom.

"During the fire, her right hand was destroyed, and she still cried while asking if he was okay."

Leander's brow furrowed. "Shut up."

The warehouse went quiet instantly.

Katrina watched him, and a flash of resentment crossed her eyes. "Are you feeling sorry for her?"

Leander looked up at her.

Katrina softened her voice. "Leander, do not forget. She is a Carver.

"You know how your father died. You know what the Croft family went through. Have you forgotten all of that?"

Leander's fingers curled tighter, one knuckle at a time.

He had not forgotten.

That was why, seven years earlier, he had gotten close to Mila Carver in the first place.

She had just won the gold medal at an international piano competition. She stood at center stage in a white dress and looked untouched by anything ugly in the world. He sat in the audience and watched her smile, watched her bow, and watched her embrace her mother.

In that moment, he only felt bitterness.

Why did the Croft family lie in ruins while the Carver girl stood in the light?

He went to every length to get close to her. He became the person she loved most, and then, piece by piece, he dragged her out of the light and into the dark.

During the first kidnapping, he watched through the surveillance feed as she knelt in the rain and pushed the money from selling her piano toward the kidnappers. She shook so hard she could barely speak while she begged over and over. "Do not hurt him. I will give you whatever you want."

All Leander felt was satisfaction. His enemy's daughter knelt before him and atoned for the sins of the Carver family.

Yet after that, things slipped out of his control.

During the fire, when the beam came crashing down, Mila could have run. She turned back instead and shoved him out of the way.

When she woke up with her right hand wrapped in bandages, the first thing she said was, "Leander, are you hurt?"

The doctor said she would never play at a high level again. She stayed quiet for a long time, then turned to him and smiled. "It is fine. I still have you."

From that day on, Leander could not bring himself to look her in the eye.

Katrina walked up to him and lowered her voice. "You are not really calling this the last time, are you?"

Leander closed his eyes. "Yeah."

"As long as she is willing to die for you, the Carvers' debt to the Crofts is settled?"

He stayed silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was raw. "Yes."

Something in Katrina's face changed. "Then what about the wedding?"

The rain grew heavier outside the warehouse. Leander lifted his head and stared at the pitch‑black night beyond the door. "It goes ahead."

Katrina clenched her fingers until her knuckles turned white. "You are really going to marry her?"

Leander did not answer, but the silence was answer enough.

Katrina laughed, sudden and sharp. "You lost your mind. You tortured her for seven years, and now you are telling me you will marry her as long as she is willing to die for you?"

His voice was barely above a whisper. "This is the last time. I will spend the rest of my life making it up to her."

Katrina stared at him as though she had heard the most absurd thing in the world. "You took her hand, her piano, her mother, and your unborn children from her. What could you possibly offer that would make up for any of it?"

Leander's eyes snapped up, bloodshot and furious. "Shut up! Not another word!"

Katrina stumbled back, but the resentment in her eyes never wavered. "You will never clear that debt. The two of you are destined to end in ruin."