“Why come back now?” she asked.

He looked at her earnestly. “Because I never stopped trying. And now that I’ve found you, I don’t plan to lose you again.”

A week later, Adrian bought her a small house near the city, not as charity but as a start. He encouraged her to open a bakery of her own, something she had always dreamed about. He enrolled Jamie in a good school and spent every weekend visiting.

Word spread quickly back in her hometown. The same people who once mocked her now spoke her name with admiration. A few came to apologize, but Elena only smiled. Forgiveness, she had learned, freed her more than resentment ever could.