Chapter 3 - The Town by the Lake
Seven months later.
The air in the small Michigan lakeside town smelled like pine needles and rain.
Elena wiped down the counter of the antique bookstore.
She was heavily pregnant now.
Thirty-eight weeks.
Her back ached, her feet were swollen, and she had never been happier.
She lived in a small apartment above the shop.
She drank decaf tea on the porch.
She read books.
She had a savings account with exactly four thousand dollars in it.
She didn't have bodyguards following her to the grocery store.
She didn't have to listen to the buzzing of a burner phone at 2 a.m.
She had chosen herself.
And in doing so, she had saved her child.
She patted her round stomach as a small kick fluttered against her ribs.
“I know,” she whispered. “Almost time.”
The bell above the bookshop door chimed.
Elena didn’t look up immediately.
“Just a second, I’ll be right with you.”
She finished wiping the counter, tossed the cloth into the sink, and turned around.
The breath vanished from her lungs.
Adrian Vale stood in the doorway.
He looked entirely different.
The tailored, intimidating Italian suits were gone. He wore a simple dark jacket and jeans.
He looked thinner.
Older.
The arrogance that had always surrounded him like a shield was completely gone.
He looked at her stomach.
His eyes filled with tears.
He didn't step forward.
He didn't demand she come home.
He stood by the door, his hands trembling at his sides.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered.
Elena’s heart pounded, but she forced her voice to remain steady.
“How did you find me?”
“I bought the building across the street three months ago.”
Elena froze.
“You’ve been here for three months?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you come in?”
Adrian looked down.
“Because you didn’t want me to.”
He swallowed hard.
“Because I knew if I walked through that door, I would ruin the peace you built.”
Elena stared at him.
The most dangerous man in Chicago had been sitting across the street for ninety days, watching her through a window, too afraid to cross the road.
“Then why come in today?” she asked.
May you like
Adrian looked back up.
“Because you’re due in two weeks. And I couldn’t let you go to the hospital alone.”
