Page 37 of Carter

Wearing a khaki turtleneck sweater dress with my hairstyle in a fishtail braid, I make my way to my father’s office, where I know my parents are waiting for me. I giggle inside because my parents aren’t stupid. They know something is up. I knock before entering my eyes scan the office. My dad's sitting in his chair, and my mother is behind him. My dad gestures for me to take a seat. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” My mother says as she leaves my father's side to sit beside me, holding my hand. As I said, my parents aren’t stupid, and coming back so suddenly with sadness in my eyes has them both worried.

I clear my throat and breath, not wanting to cry in front of them, I have no tears left in me anyways. “Nothing. I've been thinking. I want to do a new business venture in our home country of Italy,” I say, looking at my parents. “What’s that new venture you're talking about?” My dad says, eyeing me to see if I’m lying, but I can see he’s worried.

“Well, I want to expand our services. I mean we can help so many people there, it’s like we're giving back to our home country. After all, I am Italian.” I'm excited to have my parents' support in this new venture.

“Okay, I believe in you, Leandra. Let’s do it.” My dad says with a smile and I know I have his full support in this. “Now, tell your mother and me the real reason behind the sadness.” He says, looking all concerned. I hate seeing my parents worry because of me. I release a sigh I'm holding.

My mom squeezes my hand, and I tell them it was time for me to return and that Carter and I had broken up.

I don’t tell my parents that Carter is a wolf and that he chose his mate over me. I don’t want my parents to hate the father of my child. So, instead, I told them that we had broken up and it was time for me to return. We all knew I wasn’t staying. That was never the plan. I look at them and I can’t help but tell them that there's light behind this dark storm.

I grab my mom’s hand and place it on my stomach. She looks at me, all confused, before realizing what I’m trying to say. I nod, and she starts to cry as she hugs me. “Oh my God, I’m gonna be a nonna.” She’s happy and excited. My father gets out of his chair, making his way toward me. He hugs me tighter than ever, and I see his eyes water. I hug them both knowing everything is going to be alright.

Chapter thirty-two

Carter

It has been exactly four months, 12 weeks, 120 days, 2,920 hours, 175,200 minutes, and 10,512,000 seconds since I last heard from my Peach. I had texted and rang her both on more than one occasion. Hell, I even went to New York and talked to her parents and sisters. Not even her damn firm would give me something.

It wasn’t even 48 hours after my rejection that my messages wouldn’t even deliver. The calls would instantly go to voicemail, and the number was disconnected after a while. I was broken and angry at her, but mostly, I was furious with myself because, to this day, I can still see the hurt and pain I caused her in those dark brown eyes of hers.

I was in my home gym getting ready to exert some of this anger I had felt building inside me these last 12 weeks. I’m in desperate need of a good workout session.

Isabella walks into the gym, and I watch her out of the corner of my eye. She looks at me, but her facial expression is unwelcoming, as it's been these past four months. “You went to New York again, didn't you?” She asks in an accusing voice.

“I think you already know the answer to that question.” I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Isabella about what happened in New York. I clamp my eyes shut trying to control my emotions from getting the best of me.

I would never hurt Isabella physically, but I don’t want to say something we both might regret later. I open my eyes and I can see Isabella staring at me with sadness and pity in her eyes now.

“Carter,” Isabella’s voice is soft and sympathetic.

“You loved her that much?” Isabella asks, but her voice isn’t judgmental at all. “No, loved would be past tense, and that’s not the case. I still love her more than anything or anyone. I can’t fuckin' breathe without Leandra. I’m dying a slow torturous death.” I say, finally looking up at her.

“I was able to hear her thoughts. That wasn’t normal,” I find myself saying. “What?” Isabella questions as her eyes go wide at me in shock. “You were able to hear her thoughts?” She repeats my words to make sure she heard right, needing confirmation. I nod as I look into her curious eyes. “Holy shit, why didn’t you tell me sooner, Carter? This is a big deal, right?”

“Yes,” I sigh.

Fuck! I would have given everything for her to be my mate and not endure the pain and hurt I saw in her eyes. Rejecting my mate didn’t hurt as much as this. I felt relieved and content with my decision. My wolf was hurt, but losing Leandra was another type of pain. Losing her feels like I’m suffocating.

I can’t fuckin' breathe.

“Carter, you should ask Liam about going to see the Elders. If anyone can answer why you could hear Leandra’s thoughts, it's them,” she says just before leaving me to my dismay.

I head over to the boxing bag as I finished wrapping my hands. The Elders? Hmm, it’s probably nothing except maybe a mutation in my body or something. I’m not willing to waste my time talking to the Elders. I need to find Leandra first. If I see them, I need her there with me.

Sometimes I let my hopes get way too high, like today when I asked her to dinner after looking at potential locations for the construction, and she blew me off. She didn’t even fuckin' answer the question. I shake my head at the thought.

Fuck!

I’m annoyed that her thoughts are blank whenever I want to get into her head the most and try to understand her. Why was everything I wanted to know blocked out? Like her whole life is just one big secret.

I knew she found me attractive and thought I was good in bed, but I didn’t care about knowing any of those things. I wanted to know why she had walls built up so high? Why doesn't she date? I wanted to understand what she was going through and why I couldn’t read her thoughts when she got defensive.

I was desperate for answers.

There was an undeniable connection between us. Making the brave and irrational decision to confront her, I make my way over to her suite with take-out because even though I’m pissed, I’m still a gentleman. Maybe I should have calmed down first.

“Do you always open your door half naked?” I said, looking almost too amused at the situation.

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