He Broke Every Rule for Her, Except When It Came to Me Chapter 09

He Broke Every Rule for Her, Except When It Came to Me Chapter 09

I carried my grandparents’ ashes home, back to the small Appalachian town that raised me.

For years, I’d been too busy-chasing my career, and later chasing Damiano with everything I had-to spare much time to visit them.

Now I was bringing them home for good, and I planned to stay.

This was where I belonged.

My birth parents abandoned me as a baby. My grandparents found me and raised me with everything they

had.

Within a couple of days of my return, the mayor came by..

He’d heard I was back and asked if I had time to tutor the local kids.

I was the only person from this town who’d ever made it to college-the schools here were falling apart,

resources next to nothing.

I said yes without a second thought. I started teaching every day.

Life here was so much easier than the estate had ever been.

In that house, I’d spent every waking hour braced for punishment over the smallest misstep.

Here, watching those kids’ faces light up, I felt something like peace for the first time in years.

I thought that peace might just be my life from now on.

Then everything changed-Damiano found me.

I’d just finished class, walking the dirt road home, when I spotted a painfully familiar figure in the distance.

I thought I was seeing things-until he turned around, and the look on his face when he saw me was raw.

“Elena. I finally found you!”

He crossed the distance in two strides, reaching for my wrist.

I stepped aside, avoiding him without a word.

He froze, hand still hanging in the air.

I looked at him, cold. “Why are you here?”