His Smokescreen Is Now the Woman He Can’t Have Chapter 45

His Smokescreen Is Now the Woman He Can’t Have Chapter 45

The moment I touched him, my hands were covered in hot, sticky blood.

I didn’t dare think about how much he was losing.

“Don’t be scared…” I tried to keep my voice steady, but it shook violently. “The ambulance is on its way. It’ll be here soon. Don’t talk.”

But Caleb just shook his head faintly.

He knew. The knife had gone too deep, too precisely. The knowledge West Point had drilled into him was now delivering the cruelest of verdicts.

He lifted his head with a monumental effort and used the hand that wasn’t completely slick with blood to grip mine.

“I’m sorry… I know… I hurt you so badly…” Every word was a struggle. “This… let this count as me paying you back, okay?”

“Stop talking!” I cut him off, my voice cracking into a sob. “It’s not the same thing! Just stop talking!”

But it was as if he didn’t hear me. He just looked at me, his gaze stubborn.

“Elara… I know in this life… we don’t have a chance.” His breath grew shallow. “But the next life… In the next life, I’ll be the one to chase you… Just give me one chance… to really protect you… okay?”

His voice grew lighter, softer. The light in his eyes was dimming.

I looked down at his face, already as pale as paper, as my tears fell onto his cheek. After a long moment, I finally choked out a whispered answer.

“Okay.”

As if he had finally heard the one thing he needed to, Caleb slowly relaxed.

He looked at me, the corners of his mouth trying to lift into a smile, but he no longer had the strength.

He slowly closed his eyes.

And the hand holding mine went limp.

…

In the end, Caleb Sterling couldn’t be saved.

Much of what happened afterward, I learned from the news and from Liam.

The Sterling family was incandescent with rage. They brought Caleb’s body back from West Point. At the funeral, his mother cried so hard she couldn’t stand. After Isabelle was sentenced to life in prison, all their grief and fury fell upon the Davenport family.

Less than a month later, the Davenports declared bankruptcy. The once-glorious general’s family was finished.

When I heard the news, I felt no great stir of emotion.

I graduated from MIT. Liam courted me seriously for three years, and in the end, we were married.

I became an architect. The lines that had once existed only on paper became real buildings under my hand, standing tall against city skylines.

Several years later, I gave birth to a beautiful daughter. When she smiled, she had Liam’s warmth.

One day, my daughter was looking through old news archives for a school project on “heroism.” Suddenly, she pointed at an old photograph on the screen and cried out.

“Mom, look! This man in the uniform is so handsome! Who is he? Where is he now?”

I walked over and looked down.

On the screen was an article from years ago about outstanding West Point cadets. The photo was of Caleb Sterling. He was wearing a crisp gray uniform, his blond hair bright, his expression just as I remembered it, filled with a touch of innate pride. His eyes were bright, too, like a light from a youth that would never fade.

Looking at that face, forever frozen in time, I was briefly lost in thought.

I pulled my daughter into my arms and gently kissed her forehead.

“Him…” I said softly. “Maybe he’s in heaven, watching over us.”

My daughter didn’t quite understand. “Why would he be watching over us?”

I turned and looked out the window.

Beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass stood the new Boston Cultural Center, which I had designed. The glass facade reflected the sunset, bathing the entire building in golden light.

I held the warm little girl in my arms and felt Liam come up behind me, resting his hand lightly on my shoulder.

I lifted my head toward the sky, now dyed red by the setting sun, and said softly, “Maybe he just wants to see if we’re doing okay.”

My daughter nodded as if she half understood, then suddenly hugged my neck tightly.

“Then he can definitely see it,” she said with great certainty. “Mom is very happy now.”

I froze for a moment, then hugged her back tightly, a gentle smile slowly spreading across my face.

“Yes.”

“I’m very happy now.”