Elise's POV
Elise stared out the passenger window at the house she used to love. It sat under the pouring rain, crumbling as the water soaked deep into it. Everything she has tried to hard to hold together was being washed away
"I don't even have a toothbrush," she whispered, breaking the silence.
Carter didn't speak.
She turned to him. "Where are we supposed to go?"
"I'll figure something out."
"You keep saying that," she snapped. "But all you do is bring us deeper into chaos."
"I didn't mean for this to happen!"
"Well, it did! And now we're in a car, soaked to the bone with nowhere to sleep and no one to call!"
"Do you think I'm proud of this?" he shouted, hands gripping the wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. "Do you think I like knowing I destroyed everything? That you hate me more every time I open my mouth?"
Elise's chest rose and fell with fury and heartbreak. "I don't hate you, Carter."
He looked at her, eyes hollow.
"I pity you."
Silence.
Then Elise turned away, hugging herself, pressing her forehead to the cold glass. "I don't know how much more of this I can take."
She didn't know what would break first—her heart or her spirit.
****
They spent that night in a roadside motel that smelled like garbage and regret.
The sheets were scratchy, the AC unit groaned and barely worked, and Elise laid awake long as Carter slept peacefully snoring next to her. Her mind was going a thousand miles per hour.
She thought about the job that she hated but might have to go back to. She thought about asking her sister for help—but the shame settled deep in her stomach. She thought about Carter, asleep next to her, and how even now, some twisted part of her still wanted to believe they could find a way out of this.
But her hope was on life support.
The next morning, Elise woke to the sound of Carter pacing around the room.
She blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the pouring sun pouring in. "Can't sleep?"
He stopped, ran a hand through his hair then turned to her. There was a strange look in his eyes—nervous, hesitant.
"I was thinking," he said. "There's… someone we could stay with. For a while. Until we figure things out."
Elise sat up slowly. "Who?"
He took a breath. "My father."
She blinked, confused. "Your father?"
"You've never met him," Carter said quickly, already anticipating her reaction. "He lives in Connecticut now. Big estate. I haven't spoken to him in years, but he reached out after the divorce with my mom. Said the door was open, anytime."
Elise frowned. "Wait. Back up. You've never mentioned your father. Not once in five years."
"I know," Carter admitted, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "We didn't exactly have a… warm relationship when I was growing up. My parents split when I was in high school, and after that… I just stayed with Mom. I didn't think he'd care much about my life, and honestly, I didn't want him involved."
Elise narrowed her eyes. "So why now?"
"Because we're out of options," he said, voice cracking. "He's wealthy, connected, and lives in a place we can stay rent-free. At least until we can think things through and get back on our feet."
Elise's mind was in chaos. She had barely processed the events of the day before and no, her husband was springing a new one on her. "And you're just telling me this now?"
"I didn't think I'd ever need him," Carter said. "But things have changed. We're not just broke, Elise. We're homeless. This is the only plan I have and I have to take it."
Elise stared at him.
She had spent years believing Carter's father was either dead or irrelevant. During their entire relationship, his mother and her second husband were the only family she ever knew from his side. This man was a ghost. A name that was never brought up at family dinners.
And now Carter wanted to move in with him?
"In Connecticut?" she asked, still trying to catch up. "What does he even do?"
"He's a former investment mogul," Carter said. "Retired. Born into old money. Lives in a mansion with people who wear loafers indoors and have wine cellars bigger than this entire motel."
Elise gave him a look. "And you think he'll just welcome us in with open arms?"
"I don't know," Carter said honestly. "But he said the door was open. I'm ready to knock."
Elise looked away, her mind racing. This was too much. Too fast. But the cold truth was they actually had nowhere else to go so this was the only option.
Still, something about this didn't sit right with her.
Why had Carter never even mentioned him?
And why now, after everything had already fallen apart, was his father the one who reached out?
Something about this felt less like an extended olive branch and more like a leash being put around their necks.
But Carter looked at her with the kind of desperation she hadn't seen in him before. Not anger. Not frustration. Just exhaustion and a fragile thread of hope.
She swallowed hard. "Okay," she whispered. "Let's go meet your father."
Carter exhaled in relief.
But Elise couldn't shake the unease tightening in her chest.
Something told her… this man—Alexander Monroe, wasn't offering a roof out of kindness.
He was inviting them into his world for a reason.
And Elise was about to find out exactly what it was