"You're going to wrinkle everything," she says from the doorway.
"Don't care."
She sighs and crosses to the bed, gently removing a silk blouse from my grip. "Here. Let me."
I step back and watch her fold my clothes with the same precise care she's always had.
Even as kids, her side of the closet was immaculate while mine looked like a tornado had hit it.
Some things never change.
"I don't want to leave you," I admit. "We just got here. We were supposed to have a whole week."
"I know." She smooths a cashmere sweater and sets it in the suitcase. "I was looking forward to it too."
"This is insane. Three days ago, I was in Jacksonville, worrying about fabric swatches and production schedules. Now I'm fleeing the country with a Brotherhood soldier because some Slovenian crime family wants to use me as a pawn."
"Slovenian with Irish ties," Rev corrects. "The Krajncs have been operating in Belfast for years. It's complicated."
"Of course it is." I sink onto the edge of the bed. "How do you do it, Rev? How do you live in this world every day and not lose your mind?"
She pauses, a pair of my jeans in her hands.
"I love him," she says simply. "I love Doran more than I'm afraid of what his life means. And I trust him to keep me safe." She sets the jeans down and sits beside me. "It helps that I'm not naive about it. We grew up in the MC. I know what violence looks like. I know what men are capable of when they're protecting what's theirs."
"What's theirs," I echo.
"Mm." She bumps her shoulder against mine. "You should be prepared for that, by the way."
"For what?"
"For RJ looking at you like you belong to him." Her lips curve. "He already does, you know. Even in that meeting—he wasn't asking for the assignment. He wastellingthem. No one else gets to protect you. Only him."
"He was just being professional."
"Dalla. Sweetheart." She turns to face me fully. "That man would burn down the world for you. I saw the way he looked when he brought you into that safe room. Like he'd rip apart anyone who tried to take you from him."
My chest tightens. "We barely know each other."
"Sometimes that's all it takes. One look. One moment." Her eyes go soft, distant. "Doran knew the second he saw me. Took me a little longer to catch up, but he knew."
"And that doesn't scare you? Being wanted that intensely by someone that dangerous?"
"It terrifies me," she admits. "Every single day. But it also makes me feel safer than I've ever felt in my life. Because I know—Iknow, down to my bones—that nothing will ever hurt me while he's breathing."
I think about RJ's body covering mine.
The steady beat of his heart while bullets flew.
The way his hands shook when he touched my face, like he was afraid I might break.
Like he was afraidhemight break.
"He's going to be with you every day," Rev continues. "In your space, watching you, learning you. That kind of proximity changes things. It strips away all the walls you think you have."
"Is that a warning or a prediction?"
"Both." She smiles and pulls me into a hug. "Be careful, Dal. But also... be open. You don't have to carry everything alone. If he wants to help carry it, let him."
