Let’s stay in the space between almost and missed.
I don’t need promises, I just need slow.
One more breath with you,
Please don’t go.
The words cracked something open inside her.
The tears didn’t ask permission. They just arrived—fierce and hot. The taste of salt touched her lips. It startled her, the way her body knew before her mind did. How it responded to what she hadn’t dared acknowledge.
He was leaving. And she didn’t think she could follow.
No, even that wasn’t true anymore.
She couldn’t.
Naomi was pinching the bridge of her nose, trying not to ruin her makeup. Isabel wiped her cheek like it had turned againsther. Georgina didn’t even try to stop the tears, just let all of them fall, hand clamped over her mouth.
And Lillian…Lillian sat unnervingly still, face wet, her tender heart understanding too much, too deeply.
Bea’s hands trembled around the microphone, knuckles white against the black steel. Her voice cracked in places, but she didn’t stop. She squeezed her eyes shut and continued, letting the words pour out of her like a confession. Let the tears stream unchecked down her face.
Her voice softened to almost a whisper on the final note. And then it was over.
The room erupted into applause, whistles, and shouts. People she didn’t even know were cheering like she’d just won something.
But four pairs of eyes stayed on her, unsmiling. Carrying the truth with her.
Bea swiped at her face, fingers shaking. Terrified.
Not of what people saw, but of what came next.
Chapter Forty-Two
GAGE
The office was quiet.
Final drafts had been signed, meetings cleared. There was nothing left on the calendar.
Except the thing he hadn’t written down.
The ring had been sitting in the drawer for months.
He’d waited as long as he could. Longer, even—because he hadn’t wanted to trap her. But there was no time left.
Gage leaned back in the chair. The city below him was washed in light, sharp and endless.
There had been other women. Clean matches. Flawless credentials. No tension, no confusion. They fit his life, his image, his future.
They’d admired the crown.
Only Bea had touched the man wearing it.
He knew her hesitation. Felt it like a living thing between them. But waiting hadn’t made it disappear.
There was only one honest move left.
