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“I...” She started but found herself unable to finish, the words sticking in her throat like glue. The truth was, she wasn’t sure if she would choose to fall for him again, knowing the hurt it would cause them both.“We can’t turn back time. We can’t change what happened. We are where we are now.”
Serenity let out a hum of thoughtfulness before she spoke, her gaze bouncing between the two of them. “Sometimes, it takes a little time and distance to realize what we’ve always had. You’re both here now, taking this step together. That tells me there’s still hope.”
Cal laughed, but it was hollow. “Hope,” he echoed, his gaze boring into Ellie’s. “I’m always holding onto hope.”
Her heart clenched at the subtle double entendre— Hope, her missing sister, and hope, the emotion, the feeling of expectation, anticipation, even... of want. She had to swallow past the lump in her throat.
Serenity nodded. “Hope is a powerful thing, Cal. Never let it go.”
Silence settled over the room, heavy and intense, charged like a summer storm. There were so many unspoken words and buried feelings. She didn’t know how they could heal from it all.
“I think that’s enough for today,” Serenity said gently, breaking the spell. “Take some time to reflect on what we’ve talked about. We’ll meet again tomorrow.”
Ellie managed a curt nod before exiting the room as quickly as decorum allowed her. She needed to breathe, to clear her head of all thoughts about Cal and his damned hold on her emotions.
But he was right on her heels. “Ellie?—”
She whirled on him. “This isn’t real. You and me? We’re done. We’re not a couple anymore.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” she hissed, aware that they were drawing stares from other commune members in the nearby garden. “Because in there?—”
He caught her hand as she gestured wildly toward the tent and lowered his voice to match her. “I’m playing my part, Elle. That’s all.”
“Your part? We are not a couple, Cal. We are not in love. And we never will be again.”
His eyes flashed with a mix of emotions—hurt, surprise, regret. “I didn’t say?—”
“Save it,” she cut him off, her heart pounding against her ribcage. “You’re good at playing roles, aren’t you? The perfect defense attorney who can make anyone believe anything.” Tears stung at the corners of her eyes, but she stubbornly blinked them back. She stalked back to their cabin and shut the door. But of course, there wasn’t a lock. They didn’t believe in locks here, and Cal was able to walk right in.
He ran a hand through his blond hair and let out a frustrated sigh. “Ellie, I know I hurt you before. I’m sorry for that. But right now, we’re stuck here, and we need to stick together. For Hope.”
At the mention of her sister’s name, her breath caught in her throat, and she wrapped her arms around herself. “And I suppose you’re going to defend them too once we find proof that they’re responsible for her disappearance? Are you just here to rack up more clients?”
Cal flinched as if physically stung by her words. “You know that’s not true.”
“Do I?” A harsh laugh tore out of her, brittle and broken, scraping the inside of her throat raw. “Your job is your life, Cal. You already chose it over me once. How do I know you’re not doing it again?”
He reached out, but she stepped back, keeping a distance between them that was more than just physical. His face softened into a sad understanding that settled like a weight in the pit of her stomach.
“Ellie,” he began again, softer this time, almost like a plea. “Please, just give me a chance to explain?—”
“What’s there to explain? That you did your job by getting Jaxon Throne a lighter sentence in a minimum-security prison?”
“Yes. Because he isn’t a killer.”
“He tried to kill Alexis. He wanted to kill Shane.”
“And he’s paying for that with ten years of his life, but he’s doing it in a place where he can get the help he desperately needs for his drug addiction and PTSD. You really think he should’ve been thrown in a maximum-security prison to rot?”
“No.” Exhausted, she dropped into a chair and shoved her hands into her curls. “No. But you didn’t know the extenuating circumstances when you chose to defend him, and you were willing to do it anyway.”
Cal paused. Moments passed as the tension in the room grew thicker with every deafening tick of the clock on the wall.
“Yeah, I was,” he admitted finally.
The honesty in his words struck her in a place she didn’t expect— it hurt, but it also relieved her somehow. “I can’t give my heart to a man who defends monsters.”
