“She added orange zest, bastardo, don’t pretend it didn’t change your life.”
I laugh. Just a little. But it feels real.
Elijah’s hand finds the small of my back. Warm. Anchoring.
“I’ve gotta step out,” he says, eyes on me. “Quick meeting with Kade. I wouldn’t leave you unless I knew who was staying with you.”
I glance at Sebastian and Gabriel, already making themselves comfortable. Gabriel’s fluffing a blanket on the couch like he lives here. Sebastian’s taken post by the window like a silent panther in cashmere. I nod. “Okay.” My voice small.
Elijah tips my chin up with two fingers. “You’ll be safe. You’re not alone. You hear me?”
I nod again, slower this time.
“I’ll be back before you miss me.”
I smirk faintly. “Not likely.”
He kisses my forehead and disappears into the night.
Gabriel tucks the blanket around me like I’m breakable. “You don’t have to talk,” he says gently. “But you can.”
Sebastian’s sitting nearby, reading, but I know he’s listening too. Always watching the windows. Watching me. I take a sip of tea and whisper, “I don’t think I realized how scared I was. Until I wasn’t alone.”
Gabriel sets down his mug and gives me a soft smile. “That’s the thing about people who grow up fighting their own battles, sweetheart. You forget what it’s like to have backup.”
I blink hard. Swallow the lump in my throat.
And for the first time in a long time, I let someone else hold the fear for me. Someone that isn't Elijah.The tea is lukewarm now, resting on my lap. The lights are low. The city outside Elijah’s windows glows soft and distant, like the world forgot how to be sharp for once.
Gabriel is beside me on the couch, legs tucked under him like a cat. He hasn’t pushed. Not once. But he’s still here.Sebastian is nearby—siting in one of the armchairs. Reading. Listening. Guarding in that quiet, Sebastian way.
I stare down at my bracelet, twisting the black leather gently around my wrist.
“It was supposed to be mine,” I whisper. “The store. It was my dream, one that I have built for myself, to be my place of peace. . I built it from nothing. For once in my life, I wanted something that didn’t belong to anyone else.”
Gabriel nods. “And now someone’s trying to take it from you.”
My throat tightens. “He didn’t even steal anything. Just broke it. Left a message. Like I’m not allowed to be safe.”
I hear my own voice getting smaller. I hate that. I want to be braver. But Gabriel doesn’t flinch. He just leans in slightly, his eyes warm and soft.
“You know, people always talk about survival like it’s this strong, powerful thing,” he says. “But sometimes survival just means still showing up after someone made you feel like you shouldn’t exist.”
I look at him. Really look. He’s so different from Elijah—softer in a way that doesn’t feel weaker. Like he knows exactly how it feels to be underestimated.
I find myself whispering, “My mom used to tell me no one would ever want me.”
Gabriel doesn’t speak. He just places his hand gently over mine.
“I believed her for a long time,” I continue. “And then I married someone who never even tried to prove her wrong.”
I don’t know why I’m saying this. I’ve never said it aloud. Only Elijah knows these things.
“We didn’t sleep together for the last two years of our marriage,” I say. “He just… stopped seeing me. And I let him. Because I thought that was the best I could hope for.”
Gabriel doesn’t squeeze my hand. He doesn’t rush in with platitudes. He just sits with it. With me.
“You know what I love about you, Ava?” he says finally.
