All Chapters of Too Late To Want Me Back : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Damian remained seated behind his desk long after Victor had left.The office was quiet.The city continued moving outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, but Damian barely noticed.His attention remained fixed on the sealed envelope sitting in front of him.He had received threats before.He had dealt with corporate sabotage, hostile takeovers, blackmail attempts, and people who thought they could manipulate him.But this felt different.Because this time, the name connected to the secret was Elena's.Victor's words continued to echo in his mind."The first piece of the truth."Damian finally reached for the envelope.Whatever was inside, he needed to know.He carefully broke the seal.Several old documents slid onto the desk.There were photographs too.Damian picked up the first one.His expression immediately softened.Elena.She couldn't have been more than five or six years old.She stood between her parents, one tiny hand wrapped around her father's fingers while her mother reste

"Someone was there that night."Elena's voice trembled through the phone.Damian's heart tightened.He had heard fear in her voice before, but this was different.This wasn't fear of Adrian.It wasn't fear of Vanessa.It wasn't even fear of the uncertainty surrounding her past.This was the fear of remembering something she had spent years forgetting."Elena," Damian said gently, "where are you?""At home.""Are you with your grandfather?""Yes.""Good. Stay with him."There was a brief silence.Then Elena whispered,"Damian...""I'm coming."He ended the call.Victor was still standing across from him."What happened?""She remembered something."Victor's face changed."What?""She remembers a man talking to her father."For several seconds, Victor didn't respond.His expression was enough to tell Damian that the memory mattered."You know who it was."Victor finally looked at him."I may."Damian's jaw tightened."Then tell me.""I need to speak to Elena first.""She's upset.""I kn

Elena woke the next morning feeling strangely peaceful.For the first time in weeks, she hadn't dreamed about her past. She hadn't woken up wondering what she had forgotten or what secret would surface next. She had simply slept — deep, dreamless, and whole. Somehow, that felt like a gift.She sat up and looked around her room. The wooden box was still on the table, her father's letter safely inside. She smiled faintly. She wasn't ready to forget the past, but she was beginning to understand that she didn't have to live inside it either.After getting dressed, Elena walked downstairs. Damian was already there, standing near the windows with a cup of coffee in his hand, sifting through a few documents. When he heard her footsteps, he looked up, and his eyes softened immediately."Good morning.""Good morning.""You slept."Elena smiled. "How did you know?""You don't look exhausted."She laughed. "Is that your way of saying I usually look terrible?""That's exactly what I'm saying."Sh

Vanessa didn't sleep.She lay in the dark replaying four words until they lost their shape. *I already do.*Adrian had said it so plainly. Like a fact. Like something he'd decided a long time ago and simply hadn't bothered to mention.She told herself it didn't matter.It mattered.By six she gave up on sleep entirely and sat at her kitchen table with her phone face-down in front of her, as though not looking at it might undo the message still sitting there.*Tomorrow, we talk.*Tomorrow was today.The address came at nine. No explanation. Just a pin dropped on a map, a small café on the edge of the financial district, far enough from Blackwood Group and Sterling Holdings that no one from either building would recognize her walking in.She almost didn't go.But not going meant waiting. Waiting meant wondering. And Vanessa had spent three months wondering who knew what she'd done — whether it was Adrian's driver, or the assistant she'd bribed, or someone at the clinic who'd talked when

Damian didn't sit. He never did when the truth was about to cost him something."Seven years ago, I wasn't in that city by accident," he said. "I was there because my father had just died, and I'd inherited a company that was quietly bleeding out from a deal he'd made with your family."Elena's grip on his hand tightened. "My family?""The Vale Group had a controlling stake in a shipping consortium my father needed to survive. He'd borrowed against it without telling anyone — including me. When he died, I had ninety days to either renegotiate the terms or lose everything he'd spent thirty years building." Damian's jaw worked. "I flew in to meet with a Vale representative. Someone who could get me an audience with your father before the board found out how close we were to collapse.""And instead you met me.""I didn't know who you were. Not that night." He finally looked at her. "You told me your name was Ellie. You said you were in town for a wedding you didn't want to attend."Elena