"Dorian—"
"I'm in love with you." The words burst out, raw and desperate. "I'm so fucking in love with you it's destroying me. I have been since the moment you looked at me in that interrogation room and refused to break. And I'm terrified of it. Of how much I need you. Of how completely you've dismantled every plan I had for my life. But I'm more terrified of losing you."
Tears spill over. "You can't just say you love me for the first time while I'm going into heat."
"Why not?" A desperate laugh escapes me. "I've fucked up everything else. Might as well add terrible timing to the list." I tighten my grip on her face, needing her to hear this, to understand. "But Vespera—I mean it. Every word. My parents can disown me. The Ashworth fortune can go to some distant cousin. The family name can die with my generation. None of it—none of it—is worth losing you."
"Your inheritance—"
"Fuck the inheritance." The vehemence in my voice surprises even me. "Do you know what I realized while I was sitting in that room? That every dollar of Ashworth money is tainted with my family's cruelty. With the way they erased Julian. With the conditions they put on love. I don't want it. I don't want any of it if it means becoming them."
"You're not thinking clearly—"
"I'm thinking clearly for the first time in three days." I pull back enough to meet her eyes fully. "My parents gave me an ultimatum they don't even know they gave. Choose their approval or choose you. And I choose you. Not because the bonds force me to. Not because you're in heat and my rut is compromising my judgment. I choose you because you're the only thing in my life that's real."
"What about your future?" Her voice is small. "Your plans?"
"My plans were their plans." The realization settles over me with startling clarity. "Every goal I thought I had—running the family business, maintaining the Ashworth legacy, being the perfect heir—none of it was what I wanted. It was what they programmed me to want. What they told me mattered."
"And what do you want?"
"You." The word is absolute. "I want to wake up next to you every morning. I want to watch you become the most celebrated actor of our generation. I want to build a life that's ours, not theirs. I want pack. Real pack. Not the dynasty bullshit my parents tried to force on me."
Another wave hits her hard enough to make her double over. The whimper that escapes is pure pain.
The sound breaks something in me.
"Please." The word comes out broken. Begging. "Please let me help you through this. Not because I'm trying to manipulate you. Not because the bonds demand it. But because watching you hurt is killing me and I can't—I can't do it anymore."
"You hurt me," she gasps out. "For three days. You looked through me like I didn't exist."
"I know." The shame is crushing. "And I'll spend the rest of my life making up for it if you'll let me. I'll grovel. I'll beg. I'll get on my knees right now and apologize for every moment of those three days." I'm already shifting, actually dropping lower, pressing my forehead to her knees in a position of complete submission. "I'm sorry. God, Vespera, I'm so fucking sorry. You got Hedda—you got the role of a lifetime—and I wasn't there. I didn't celebrate with you. I didn't tell you how proud I am. I didn't do anything except hide like a coward."
"Dorian—"
"I don't deserve you." The words pour out, desperate. "I know I don't. I've done nothing but hurt you since the day we met. I kidnapped you. I tormented you. I claimed you against your will. And then when you finally started to trust me, I abandoned you the moment things got hard. You should throw me out. You should tell me to fuck off and never come back."
"Stop."
"But I'm begging you not to." I look up at her, and I don't care that there are tears on my face. Don't care that Corvus and Oakley are watching this complete breakdown. "I'm begging you to give me one more chance. To let me prove that I'm done being who they wanted me to be. That I'm ready to be who you need me to be."
"And who's that?"
"Yours." The word is raw. "Just yours. Not the Ashworth heir. Not the perfect Alpha. Not the dynasty builder. Just a man who's so fucking in love with you he can't breathe when you're hurting."
She's crying now, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. "You really mean it? About your family?"
"I called my mother this morning." The admission comes out quiet. "Before the liquid courage. Told her I wasn't coming back for Thanksgiving. That I wouldn't be bringing anyone 'appropriate' to meet them. That if she wanted to keep asking questions about my choices, she'd get answers she wouldn't like."
Her eyes widen. "What did she say?"
"That I was making a mistake. That I'd regret choosing biology over legacy. That Julian was a cautionary tale, not a role model." I reach up, wipe her tears with shaking hands. "And I told her that Julian was the bravest person in our family. That he chose love over money and I was proud to follow his example. Then I hung up."
"Dorian."
"I'm done with them." The certainty in my voice is absolute. "Done pretending their approval matters. Done letting their threats control my choices. They can cut me off. They can disown me. They can erase me the way they erased Julian. It won't change how I feel about you."
"What if you regret it?" Her voice breaks. "What if ten years from now you resent me for costing you everything?"
