All Chapters of A THOUSAND REASONS To LEAVE : Chapter 21 - Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWOElena — First Person.I knew something was wrong the moment Adrian answered my call."Hello."His voice sounded normal.Too normal.There was a flatness underneath it, something he was trying to hide.I had learned that tone because I had spent years using it myself."What happened?" I asked."Nothing happened.""Adrian."He went quiet for a moment."I want to ask you something. And I need you to answer honestly."My stomach tightened."Okay.""Who is Leo?"The name hit me harder than I expected.For a few seconds, I couldn't speak.I was standing in my kitchen, but suddenly my legs felt weak. I pulled out a chair and sat down."Where did you hear that name?""Someone sent me a photograph."My heart sank."You and a man. Underneath it, they wrote four words—ask her about Leo."I closed my eyes.Of all the things I had expected to deal with, this wasn't one of them."Leo is my childhood sweetheart."The words sounded strange coming out of my mouth.“We grew up togeth

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Elena — First PersonThere was something about Thursday afternoon light in New York that I had always loved.It came through the office windows soft and golden, making everything look warmer than it actually was. Even the buildings outside seemed less harsh for a few minutes.I noticed it while sitting at my desk that afternoon.And my first thought was Adrian.I wanted to tell him about the light.The thought stayed with me for a moment.Then I realized what it meant.I didn't want to tell him because the light was important.I wanted to tell him because he was important.I wanted to share small things with him now. Things that didn't matter to anyone else but somehow mattered to me because I knew he would understand why I noticed them.And that was when I finally admitted the truth to myself.I was in love with Adrian Ashford.Completely.There was no almost anymore.No pretending I was simply curious about him. No convincing myself that what existed between us

CHAPTER TWENTY— SiXAdrian — Third PersonIt was Adrian's idea to leave the city for a day.Not to run away.He refused to think of it that way.They weren't running from anything. They were simply choosing to have one day that belonged to them.The past week had been exhausting—Leo's calculated move against both their families, Elena's difficult dinner with her father, and the growing feeling that someone was always watching.They needed a break.On Wednesday evening, Adrian mentioned the idea of spending Saturday somewhere outside the city.Elena's expression softened."Just the two of us?" She asked."Just us.” He assured.Saturday morning, Adrian picked her up in a car nobody would recognise.He drove himself.As the city disappeared behind them, Elena lowered her window slightly, Cool October air filled the car, carrying the smell of autumn.For the first hour, they barely spoke.It wasn't uncomfortable.They had simply reached the kind of silence where neither person needed to p

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Adrian — Third PersonOn Sunday morning, Adrian received a message from an unknown number.Normally, he would have ignored it.Unknown numbers had become an irritating part of his life over the past few months—his father’s intermediaries, people connected to Hargrove, and, more recently, Leo. He had learned not to react immediately whenever his phone lit up with a number he didn't recognise.But this message was different.There is something you should see, Regarding your mother. Meet me at the address below. Come alone. Sunday noon.He read it once.Then again.His mother.The words tightened something inside him.For five years, Adrian had been trying to understand what had really happened to her. He had collected records, followed financial trails, questioned people who had known her, and built a file full of fragments that never quite became the answer he needed.Her death had left a silence in his family that nobody seemed willing to break.And now, on an or