Chapter 29

Elena stretched out on the couch, her legs unfurling across the worn cushions as she let out a slow, deliberate breath. The familiar ache in her muscles, once a constant companion, was finally starting to fade, like a guest who’d overstayed but was now packing to leave. Recovery had been a slow, arduous climb—weeks blurring into months of cautious steps, restless nights, and the quiet frustration of a body that wouldn’t heal as fast as her mind demanded. Today, though, she felt a shift. She was less fragile, more grounded as if the pieces of herself she’d lost were slotting back into place. The past few months had tested her in ways she hadn’t anticipated—pushing her to the edge of her endurance, stripping her down to raw determination—but the quiet strength she’d discovered, both in herself and in Derek, had carried her through the storm. Derek plopped down beside her, his weight dipping the couch as he balanced a steaming mug of tea in one hand and a plate of slightly uneven cookies in the other. “Thought you might need a snack,” he said, setting them on the coffee table with a lopsided grin that crinkled the corners of his eyes. “Gotta keep you and the little one fed.”