"What does that make you?"
"Yours," I say simply. "Completely, irrevocably yours."
He kisses me again, tender and claiming all at once. When he finally pulls out and settles beside me, I curl into his warmth.
"What happens now?" I ask.
His arms tighten around me. "Now we deal with Bogdan and Radimir. Now we end this threat permanently."
"And my father?"
"I believe you. I believe he's innocent." He strokes my hair. "I'll prove it. And then I'll make sure everyone knows he was framed."
Relief floods through me so intensely I have to blink back tears. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me. I should have listened from the start."
We fall into comfortable silence, his hand tracing lazy patterns on my skin.
"I'm scared," I admit quietly.
"Of what?"
"Of losing you. Of losing this." I gesture between us. "Of bringing a child into a world where people try to kill us in broad daylight."
"I'm scared too," he says. "Every day. But I'm more scared of living without you."
I tilt my head up to kiss him. "Then I guess we're both crazy."
"Crazy together."
"The best kind of crazy."
He smiles against my lips, and I feel it all the way to my toes. This man who terrified me, who held me captive, who somehow became my everything.
"Stay with me," he whispers. "Not because you have to. Because you want to."
"I want to," I promise. "For as long as you'll have me."
"Forever, then."
"Forever."
We seal the promise with another kiss. I let myself believe it. Let myself believe that somehow, despite everything, we can make this work.
Because loving Dante Sokolov might be dangerous.
But living without him would be impossible.
"I'm scared," he admits so quietly I almost don’t hear. "Of failing again. Of losing you both the way I lost Katya."
"You're not going to lose us."
"You don't know that."
"Neither do you." I lift my head to look at him. "We can't live in fear of what might happen, Dante. We have to focus on what we can control."
"And what can we control?"
