Nick didn't leave immediately.
He stood there in Samantha's office long after the words "My name is Samantha Bradley" carved into his bones like a verdict.
The silence in the room was suffocating.
Jake stood between them, tense, protective, watching every breath Samantha took.
Samantha… Ally… the woman he loved, the woman he destroyed, the woman he thought dead—
Nick could barely breathe.
Samantha turned her back to him, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows, her silhouette framed against the city she rebuilt her life in. Her arms were crossed tightly, as though holding herself together was the only thing stopping her from breaking apart.
"Get him out," she said quietly.
Not cold this time.
Just tired.
Tired in a way that made Nick's heart collapse.
Jake stepped closer, voice firm.
"You heard her."
Nick's lips parted, but no sound came.
He looked at Samantha—no, at Ally—one last time.
She didn't move.
Didn't look back.
Didn't blink.
Just silence.
Just distance.
Just the grave she said she would never dig open again.
Nick finally took a step backward.
Another.
Then another.
He felt like he was walking out of a mausoleum—except he realized he was the one buried in it.
The elevator doors closed behind him with a cold metallic sigh.
And Samantha exhaled—just once—like she'd been holding her breath for seven years.
---
Jake turns to her slowly
"Sam…"
He took a cautious step toward her.
She didn't turn.
"Don't," she whispered.
Jake's shoulders lowered, a muscle in his jaw ticking.
"Samantha… you should have told me."
"About what?" Her voice was steady again. "That I used to be weak? That I used to be someone who begged to be loved? That I married a man who threw me out in the rain for someone else?"
Her breath wavered, but she didn't let it break fully.
"That I died because of him?"
Jake closed his eyes briefly.
"That's not what I meant."
But she didn't let him continue.
She finally turned, her face composed again but her eyes exhausted—storm-eyes, the kind that had cried too much once and refused to cry again.
"I didn't tell you," Samantha said quietly, "because I didn't want you to look at me the way he used to."
Jake's expression softened in a way that was almost painful.
"I could never see you as weak," he said. "Never. I just… I hate that you've been carrying this alone."
Samantha didn't respond.
Not because she didn't agree.
But because she couldn't afford to.
Not now.
Not yet.
---
Down the elevator, Nick breaks
The moment the doors closed, Nick pressed both palms against the mirrored wall.
His reflection stared back at him—haunted, hollow, unforgivable.
His breath hitched.
"Ally…"
He whispered the name like a prayer and a curse.
Everything he ever denied crashed into him:
The way her voice trembled when he first saw her. The shadows behind her eyes. The instinct she had with Sophia. The pain she tried to hide every time he mentioned the past. The storm in her silence.
He was right there. Right beside her. In the mansion. In meetings. At events.
And he didn't see her.
He didn't want to see her.
And now the truth was ripping him open from the inside.
She survived. She lived. She was right here.
And he—
He buried her.
Nick slid down the elevator wall, his breath jagged, his hands trembling uncontrollably.
He covered his face.
And for the first time in years—
Nick Carter sobbed.
---
Back in Samantha's office
Jake watched her carefully.
He stepped close—but not too close.
"Sam… he knows. This changes everything."
Samantha sat down at her desk, opened her laptop, and began typing as though her heart wasn't on fire.
"It changes nothing."
Jake frowned. "Don't lie to me."
She looked up sharply.
This time her mask was flawless.
Her voice emotionless.
"Nick knowing the truth doesn't resurrect Ally. She died in the rain. I will not let Samantha die with her."
Jake clenched his hands, fighting the urge to pull her close.
"You don't have to fight alone anymore."
She met his eyes.
"For seven years, Jake, that's all I've known how to do."
Jake's jaw tightened with helpless frustration.
She returned her gaze to her laptop.
"Call the legal team," she said calmly. "I want the contract with Carter Group revised. If Nick thinks he can use sympathy to negotiate, he's mistaken."
Jake didn't move.
He just watched her—watched the tremor in her finger against the keyboard, the way her breath occasionally hitched even though she tried to hide it.
"You're hurting," he said softly.
"Good," she replied without looking up. "Pain keeps me sharp."
Jake stared at her a long moment.
Then turned and left, gently closing the door behind him.
The moment he did—
Samantha's hands froze.
Her breath broke.
And a single tear fell onto the back of her hand.
She didn't wipe it away.
She let it fall.
Then the next.
Then the next.
Silent. Controlled. Almost graceful.
Her tears fell like they were rationed—like she wouldn't allow herself more than she could afford.
She opened Sophia's essay again.
Read it once.
Then again.
Her shoulders trembled.
And she whispered, barely audible—
"Maybe I shouldn't have come back…"
But the moment the words left her lips, she shook her head violently.
No.
She had to come back.
For justice.
For truth.
For the girl she used to be.
She closed the notebook and set it aside.
Her voice steadied.
"This changes nothing," she repeated to herself.
But somehow…
for the first time in seven years…
it felt like everything was about to change.