Chapter 9 - CHASE IN THE RAIN
It took Nathaniel four hours and an aggressive amount of bribery to locate Elena's new address through the staffing agency's records.
It was pouring rain in Brooklyn. The streets were slick and gray, mirroring the day he had buried Sarah. But this time, Nathaniel wasn't running away from the storm; he was sprinting right through it.
He pulled his sleek black Maybach to a halt outside a rundown apartment building with a flickering neon sign. He didn't bother with an umbrella. Soaking wet, his expensive suit clinging to him, he hammered on the door of apartment 4B.
The door opened cautiously on a chain lock. Elena peered out, her eyes exhausted, her hair tied back in a messy bun.
When she saw him, she tried to slam the door shut.
"Elena, wait! Please!" Nathaniel wedged his leather shoe into the doorframe, wincing as the heavy wood bit into his foot.
"Go away, Nathaniel! Haven't you done enough? You kicked us out. You got your revenge. Just leave us alone!"
"I read the file!" he shouted over the rain hitting the hallway window. "I read the forensic report, Elena! I didn't know. For three years, I blamed him. But he tried to save her. Marcus tried to save my wife."
The pressure on the door loosened. Slowly, Elena unlatched the chain and pulled the door open. She stood there, tears welling in her eyes. "He was a good man," she whispered.
"He was a hero," Nathaniel said, his voice breaking. He dropped to his knees right there in the scuffed, dirty hallway of a Brooklyn tenement. The Ice King of Manhattan, kneeling before a maid. "I am so sorry, Elena. I was blind, and I was cruel, and I let my pain turn me into a monster. You brought me back to life, and I punished you for it."
Elena covered her mouth, a sob tearing through her throat.
"Please," Nathaniel begged, looking up at her, rain and tears mixing on his face. "I don't care about the company. I don't care about the rules. I just know that the only time I have felt my heart beat in ten years is when I'm looking at you. Come home. Please, Elena. Let me be the man you and Lily deserve."
From inside the apartment, a tiny voice yelled, "Mr. Nate?"
Lily trotted to the door, dragging her one-eared rabbit, wearing mismatched pajamas. She looked at Nathaniel on his knees. "You got wet," she observed astutely.
Nathaniel let out a wet, genuine laugh—the exact same sound that had shocked the penthouse weeks ago. "I did, little one. I got very wet."
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Elena looked at her daughter, then down at the billionaire who was offering her his entire shattered, healing heart. She sank to her knees next to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him into a desperate, forgiving kiss.
"You missed a spot," she whispered against his lips, wiping a raindrop from his cheek.
