“You don’t have to chase me anymore,” she whispered. “I’m here.”
"I love you too, Ellie."
For one impossible second, she stared at him, like even now some part of her still expected the world to take it back.
He held her there, close, like he could keep her from disappearing again.
His gaze dropped to her mouth, heavy and unblinking.
He kissed her.
All the restraint he’d been holding since the moment she disappeared snapped. Eleanor made a low, wrecked sound in her throat and melted into him, her fingers tangling in his hair as her last defenses finally gave way.
Reid pulled back just enough to look at her, a slow, devastatingly handsome smirk spreading across his face—The same one that had undone more than a few people on the stand.
“You know,” he murmured, his voice regaining that rich, arrogant hum, “we really need to discuss your wardrobe choices.”
“Is that right?”
“Stealing from the District Attorney is a serious offense, Counselor. I could have you brought in on theft charges.”
Eleanor let out a genuine laugh. “And what’s the sentence for a first-time offender?”
Reid leaned down, his lips brushing her ear. “Life,” he said. “Without the possibility of parole. And I’ll be personally taking possession of the evidence.”
He hooked his arms under her knees and lifted her easily.
“Fine,” she whispered against his lips. “You win the case, Reid.”
“Sweetheart,” he murmured, heading toward the bedroom, “I think we both did.”
The cameras were dark. The transcripts were filed.
For the first time in years, Eleanor Harper wasn’t a headline or a plot point.
She was home.
EPILOGUE
EPILOGUE — Six Weeks Later
The valley finally seemed to breathe again. Across the ridge, the houses at Riverbend stood skeletal against the sky—no longer a crime scene, just timber waiting for new life.
David Mercer stood in the side pasture, watching Davie pitch.
MiMi and PopPop sat in lawn chairs, coffee between them, tracking every throw.
“Keep your eye on the glove, baby!” MiMi called.
“Throw smoke!” PopPop yelled.
“Don’t tell him to throw smoke,” MiMi snapped, though she was smiling.
David laughed, tossing the ball back to his son. But his gaze drifted to the new fence line by the barn. He and Danny had spent a week framing it last summer, laughing over a cooler of beer while they worked the post-hole digger. Now the cedar looked different.
He stood there a moment.
Every straight line was a reminder of the brother who had loved him enough to confess—and lied enough to ruin them.
