Sophia clutched her blue notebook as she walked into Nick's home office, her hair tied in a messy ponytail, paint still on her fingers from art class.
"Daddy," she said, "my teacher said you have to read my homework before I turn it in."
Nick pushed away his paperwork with a tired smile.
"Of course, princess. Come here."
She climbed onto his lap, handed him the notebook, and waited with expectant eyes.
The title hit him first.
"The Woman Who Reminds Me of Mommy."
Nick froze.
A cold rush ran through his spine.
Mommy Ally.
He looked down at his daughter slowly.
"Sophia… is this about—"
She nodded eagerly.
"Miss Samantha."
The ground shifted beneath him.
His throat closed.
But Sophia didn't notice; she was excited, proud.
"Daddy, I wrote it all by myself."
Nick swallowed hard and turned the page.
---
The Essay
"The woman who reminds me of Mommy Ally in my dream is Miss Samantha.
She looks at me the same way Mommy did in my dreams.
Warm.
Safe.
Like she knows me even if we never met before."
Nick's vision blurred.
He blinked rapidly, breath shaking.
"Sometimes I don't know why, but when Miss Samantha holds my hand, I feel like Mommy is here.
She smells like rain on the morning I dream about.
And when she smiles, I feel less alone."
Nick closed the notebook.
His heart stopped.
His entire world tilted.
Sophia leaned forward.
"Is it okay, Daddy?"
Nick tried to speak, but no words came out.
His little girl tilted her head, confused.
"Daddy? Why are you crying?"
He hugged her so tightly she squeaked.
"Sophia," he whispered, voice cracking, "you wrote beautifully. It's… perfect."
But inside, everything shattered.
The puzzle pieces he'd been avoiding, denying, suppressing—
Her voice.
Her eyes.
Her intuition.
The way Samantha froze when Sophia called her "Mommy Ally" at the art studio.
The way she trembled but still held Sophia like something precious and forbidden.
The way she avoided touching anything from her old life.
The pen with initials AM.
The way her breath hitched when he mentioned storms.
The scar on her wrist she tried to hide.
The softness she showed only when no one else was watching.
And the emotions she buried so violently it hurt to look at her.
Nick stood abruptly, still trembling.
Sophia blinked.
"Daddy? Where are you going?"
He forced a smile.
"To fix something. I'll be back soon."
He kissed her forehead and left the house with the essay clutched in his hand like a detonator.
*******
Elevate Headquarters – Late Afternoon
Samantha stood near the glass wall of her office, flipping through documents, but her eyes were unfocused.
Jake had been watching her from the doorway for several seconds before speaking.
"You haven't eaten."
She didn't turn.
"Later."
Jake exhaled. "Sam, you're scaring me."
Before she could answer, the elevator dinged sharply.
Both turned.
The doors parted.
Nick Carter stepped out.
Not composed.
Not controlled.
Not business-like.
But furious.
Broken.
Desperate.
Samantha stiffened instantly.
Jake's eyes narrowed.
"Nick, she's busy—"
But Nick walked straight past him like he didn't exist.
"Samantha."
His voice cracked on her name.
She went completely still.
He shoved the little notebook into her hands.
"Read it."
She glanced down.
Sophia's handwriting stared back at her like a ghost.
Her breath caught.
Her face flickered—only for half a second—but Nick saw it.
Every buried truth.
Every scar.
Every year she spent forcing herself to become someone else.
Nick stepped closer, trembling so hard his voice shook.
"Tell me the truth," he whispered.
"Samantha… Ally… whoever you are—tell me."
She said nothing.
Her eyes lowered.
Her fingers tightened around the notebook.
Nick exhaled shakily, pain ripping through him.
He whispered, "Ally… please. Tell me it's you."
Jake stood frozen at the doorway, jaw clenched, eyes darting between them.
Samantha looked up slowly.
And for the first time in years—
her mask cracked.
Tears shimmered in her eyes, fragile and burning.
She whispered—
"Yes."
Nick broke.
His knees buckled.
A sound escaped him—raw, wounded, strangled.
He staggered back a step, grabbing the desk for support as if the air had been punched out of his lungs.
"Oh God," he whispered. "Oh God… Ally… Samantha… how—how are you alive?"
He collapsed into the chair, face buried in his hands.
His shoulders shook violently.
The weight of seven years, regret, guilt, nightmares—it all crashed into him at once.
Jake took a step forward, voice low.
"Samantha—"
But she lifted a hand sharply.
Her eyes were dry now.
Cold.
Steel forged through hell.
She stepped toward Nick.
Not with tenderness.
Not with longing.
But with a ghost's agony.
Her voice was soft but lethal.
"You buried me, Nick."
He looked up, destroyed.
"Ally—"
"You buried me," she repeated, hollow and unforgiving.
"Don't ask me to resurrect what is already dead."
Nick's breath hitched.
He stood, reaching for her out of pure instinct.
She stepped back.
He froze.
Samantha's jaw clenched, and a tear slipped down her cheek—traitor, silent, quickly wiped away.
"I survived," she whispered.
"But I didn't come back for you. Or for us."
He looked like she stabbed him.
"You came back… to destroy me," he whispered.
"No," she said.
"To finish what your family started."
Silence.
Only the sound of Nick's breathing—shaky, broken.
He tried to speak.
To apologize.
To explain.
But no words existed for the pain he caused.
For the woman he loved.
For the woman he buried.
For the woman standing before him, made from the ashes of the girl he once abandoned.
Finally, Nick whispered, voice shattered—
"Ally… I am so sorry."
Samantha turned away.
"You don't get to say that to me," she said softly.
"Not anymore."
Jake stepped closer, placing himself gently but firmly between them.
Nick's eyes searched Samantha's longingly, desperately.
But she had already shut the door on that chapter.
Nick reached for her one last time.
"Ally—"
"My name," she said quietly, "is Samantha Bradley."
The room felt colder.
Nick staggered back, defeated.
Destroyed.
And for the first time in seven years—
Samantha watched him break.
But she did not hold him.
She did not comfort him.
She simply whispered—
"Now you know."