Damage Control

Epilogue

Nathaniel's P.O.V

Pacing, pacing was all I could do as I mentally fucked myself up waiting for Carter to call back to let me know she was okay, that she made it home safely, something—anything.

Why didn't I stop her before she walked out of my office?

Better yet, why didn't I tell her sooner?

Why didn't I tell her the moment she first walked into my office looking breathtaking as ever?

I tried to push her away; I tried to keep her as far away from me as possible thinking that if I said foul and unforgivable things to her, it'd force her to hate me, but it did the exact opposite. She kept coming back, challenging me, and I fell.

I fell for her, and I fell hard.

She was the only person that saw the real me, saw that I still had a warm beating heart when I thought it died the same night my mother did. She was the one person who brought true happiness into my dark soul and filled it with light, so how?

How did I manage to fuck up the one and only good thing I cared about?

Watching her physically break down in front of me was one of the most hardest, gut-wrenching things I've ever witnessed. All I wanted to do was hold her in my arms, kiss her wet cheeks and tell her how sorry I was over and over again, but I knew the moment she stepped foot out of my door, she was done...

Done with me.

Because I broke her— broke her soul, and that's something I will never forgive myself for. How could I break the one person that fixed me?

Simple.

I'm a fucking coward.

A coward for keeping this a secret for so long, a coward for lying to her after promising that I would always tell her the truth.

And a coward for letting her go.

Pacing was all I could do to stop myself from hopping in my car, driving to her place, and snatching her in my arms—my arms where she be belongs. But that would be selfish, so I stayed and paced.

I checked my phone for the hundredth time. It'd been over an hour since I called Carter and I was going insane with every second that ticked by, and as soon I pulled his name up to call, my phone rang.

It only took a few seconds before I heard shuffling in the background.

"Carter," was all I said, hoping he would give me something, anything to keep me going, I just needed to know she was okay.

"Nate."

There was something wrong. I knew immediately from the sound of his voice. It was an octave too low.

"Speak," I growled viciously, gripping my phone until it threatened to bend in my palm.

Silence.

Silence was all that I was greeted with until he spoke again.

"She's gone," he whispered.

And just like that, those two little words shattered my entire existence.

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A/N: The End :(