Semua Bab Too Late Mr. Hawthorne I Already Married Your Rival : Bab 11 - Bab 20

Elena’s POV“I don’t know who that is.” The words came out quieter than I meant them to. “It was on the entryway table yesterday. No stamp. No return address. Just my name and that.”Samantha turned the card over, then back again.“Your arm. How is it? I left something for you at the front desk of the Fairmont if you decide you want it back. —N.C.” She frowned. “That’s it?”“Yep. That’s it.”“And you’re going to pick it up.”“I’m going to find out what it is. And maybe who left it.”Samantha raised an eyebrow. “This is exactly how women in horror movies get themselves killed. ‘I’ll just go alone to the mysterious hotel desk where a stranger left me a cryptic note about my gunshot wound’.”“I’m not meeting anyone. I’m collecting whatever they left. That’s all.”“Which is why I’m coming.”She folded the card carefully and handed it back to me.“You’re not doing this by yourself. End of discussion. Also, if this N.C. turns out to be a serial killer, I get to say I told you so.”I wanted

Elena’s POV“You were going to the Fairmont, weren’t you?”The words landed harder than they should have. I stared at him, the weight of the sling suddenly more noticeable against my body. My fingers curled into the fabric of my dress without meaning to. For a second I thought I might have misheard him. The road noise, the residual heat rising off the asphalt, the faint smell of something burning coming from under the hood of Samantha’s car,any of it could have distorted the sound. But the way he watched me told me I hadn’t misheard anything.“How…how do you know that?” I asked. My voice came out quieter than I intended.He didn’t answer right away. His eyes stayed on mine, calm in a way that felt deliberate. The same unreadable expression he’d worn on the plane when the turbulence hit and his hand closed around my wrist. I waited. The silence stretched long enough that I became aware of the light wind catching the edge of my dress and the distant sound of another car passing withou

Elena's POV I noticed then that his gaze had dropped briefly to the sling again. He seemed to take in details without effort,things most people would overlook. The way I held my body to protect the injury. The small adjustments I made without thinking. The fact that I was still wearing the same dress from earlier, slightly wrinkled from the hours of travel and the unexpected stop on the side of the road.“Why do you notice everything?” I asked before I could stop myself.“You’re not difficult to notice.”I didn’t know what to do with that. Compliment or observation,it landed somewhere in between, and I disliked how easily it settled under my skin. I looked away, toward the window, watching the trees and the occasional building pass by. The city was getting closer. I could feel it in the way the road began to widen and the number of other cars increased.“Do you always pay this much attention to strangers?” I asked after a moment.He looked at me directly. “Only when they’re in troubl

Elena's povSomeone’s hands, careful and steady, fastening this exact bracelet around my wrist. A boy’s voice, close to my ear.“Don’t take it off.”I opened my eyes.The voice was not Damien’s.I knew that with complete clarity. Damien’s voice had never sounded like that,not even when we were younger. This one was different. Softer at the edges. Familiar in a way that made the back of my neck tighten.I couldn’t see the boy’s face. Only the hands. The flowers. The weight of the bracelet settled against my skin.Samantha was still watching me. “Elena. Talk to me.”I set the bracelet down carefully on the table. My free hand was not entirely steady.Under the box lay an envelope. Plain. No writing on the front. Samantha noticed it at the same time I did.“Don’t,” she said again, but softer this time.I opened it anyway.Inside was a photograph. Old. Slightly yellowed at the edges. A much younger version of me stood in a garden. The same white lilies. The same pale blue hydrangeas. Sunl

Elena’s pov Something in the way he said it made the older part of me,the part that was watching this memory from inside my own body,feel a sudden, sharp ache under my ribs.Kolia stood and offered his hand again. After a long moment she took it. He pulled her carefully to her feet and led her deeper into the garden, away from the open path. Their conversation stayed soft. He showed her the different flowers, naming the ones he knew. He pointed out a butterfly resting on a hydrangea bloom. He made a small joke about a bee that had nearly landed on his nose earlier, and young Elena let out a watery laugh that seemed to surprise her.They ran between the gravel paths, bare feet kicking up little clouds of dust. Kolia’s dark hair fell into his eyes; he pushed it back with an impatient swipe of his hand. Young Elena’s cream dress fluttered around her knees. For a short while the garden felt ordinary and safe,two children who had found each other in the quiet and decided, without words, t