Chapter 114
Elena's POV
I froze in place, Caleb's words pressing against my ribs like something solid.
The explanation I'd carefully prepared stuck in my throat. But now, watching the pain flickering behind his controlled expression, every word I'd planned turned to ash.
"Caleb, I—" My voice broke. Tears I'd been holding back for days spilled over.
His jaw tightened. For a moment I thought he might turn and leave, but instead he raised his hand, fingertips brushing the wetness on my face. The touch was so restrained, so careful, it hurt worse than any blow.
"You're crying now?" He let out a bitter laugh, low and sharp. "That's rich, Elena. You broke up with me via text, disappeared for days, and now you're the one who gets to cry?"
"I'm sorry—"
"Don't." He dropped his hand. "Don't apologize if you don't mean it. Don't say it if you're just going to do it again."
"I wanted to tell you in person," I said quietly. "I just... couldn't find the right words."
"So you found them in a text message instead?" His eyes searched mine, and I saw cracks appearing in his composure.
My throat closed up.
"I didn't want to be like this," I managed.
Caleb's expression shifted, hardening into something that looked almost like acceptance. But when he spoke, his voice carried an edge I'd never heard before. "You know what the worst part is? I actually prepared for this. I told myself maybe this time would be different. Maybe this time you'd choose me."
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a folded document. "I was going to transfer the AI patent rights. Combined with the commission from previous deals, it would have been more than enough to cover your father's debts..." He paused, shaking his head. "I thought I could give you a way out. Give us both a way out."
The papers trembled slightly in his hand. I stared at them, at him, understanding flooding through me like ice water. He'd been willing to give up everything he'd built, just to create an escape route for me.
"Caleb, no—" I reached for him instinctively, but he stepped back.
"I wanted to do this right," he continued, his voice dropping to something raw and unguarded. "I wanted to be prepared, to have something real to offer you. So you would choose me."
The vulnerability in those words shattered something inside me. This man who'd been told his whole life he was worthless, who'd been locked in towers—he still dared to hope. For me.
And I was about to destroy that hope completely.
"You can't give up the patents," I said desperately. "That's your future, your security—"
"You are my future." He said it so simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Is it decided then?" His voice went flat. "The engagement?"
I couldn't answer. My silence was answer enough.
His hand fell to his side, the documents disappearing back into his pocket. When he looked at me again, something in his expression had changed—the warmth I'd glimpsed these past weeks replaced by the cold armor I remembered from our earlier encounters.
"From the time we were children, he's had everything," Caleb said quietly, his fingers suddenly gripping my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. "The inheritance, family recognition. And now you choose him too. Why?"
Because I have no choice. Because my father locked my mother in a storage room until she burned at 103 degrees. Because he'll do worse if I don't comply. Because I'm a coward who doesn't know how to save the people I love without sacrificing myself.
But those words wouldn't come. I just stood there, tears streaming down my face, hating myself more with each second of silence.
Caleb's thumb brushed along my jaw, a ghost of tenderness in the gesture. "What can he give you that I can't? Security? Status? The approval of people who don't matter?"
"It's not like that—"
"Then what is it?" His control finally cracked, voice rising. "What the hell does Damon Vance have that makes you willing to marry him?"
"You don't understand—"
"Then make me understand!" The words tore out of him, echoing off the tower's stone walls. "Because from where I'm standing, you're choosing a lifetime of misery with someone who treats you like an obligation over... over whatever this is between us."
"My mother—" I grasped at an explanation. "I can't just abandon her. My father, he—"
"I know what your father is," Caleb cut me off. "But I gave you a solution." He pulled out the documents again, shaking them lightly. "This. This could have saved your mother, helped your father, given you freedom. But you won't even consider it."
"I can't take your money," I said, voice breaking. "I can't let you sacrifice everything you've built—"
"Why not?" He moved closer, and I could smell that familiar scent of him.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, my hand finding his wrist, gripping it like he was the only solid thing in a tilting world. "I'm so sorry, Caleb. You deserve better. Someone better than me. Someday you'll meet—"
I didn't get to finish. He kissed me.
Not gently. His mouth crashed against mine with almost violent desperation, one hand fisting in my hair, the other pressing against the small of my back, crushing me against him. I gasped against his lips and he swallowed the sound, deepening the kiss until I couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't remember why I was supposed to push him away.
When he finally pulled back just enough to speak, his breath was ragged against my mouth. "You don't get to talk anymore," he said roughly. "Don't tell me what I deserve or who I'll meet, or any of the bullshit you're planning to say to make yourself feel better about this."
"Caleb—" I tried again, but he cut me off with another kiss, shorter but just as fierce.
"I said stop talking." His voice had gone hoarse, strained. "Please, Elena. Just... stop."
We were pressed against the bell tower door now, hidden in shadows the security lights couldn't reach. Anyone could walk by. Anyone could see us.
But I couldn't make myself care. Not when Caleb was kissing me like I was oxygen and he'd been drowning. Not when his body was warm and solid against mine, anchoring me when everything else seemed to be falling apart.
I stopped trying to explain, stopped trying to justify. Instead, I kissed him back, pouring everything I couldn't say into the pressure of my lips against his—all the longing and regret and desperation.