I know where he is without checking—his office. Locked away behind walls and discipline and control, the place he goes when emotions threaten to spill where he can’t afford them to.
The realization hurts more than it should.
I sit down on the edge of the bed and stare out at the room, my gaze unfocused. His room. Our room. Still half mine, half not. Like everything else right now.
He said he admired me.
The thought circles back, soft and insistent.
He said he admired that I wanted to build something on my own. That I didn’t want it handed to me.
And God… it felt so good to hear that.
So validating.
But the truth settles in uncomfortably when I let myself really look at it.
Working at the Reserve wasn’t about earning money for the nonprofit.
Not really.
It was about pushing back.
About proving I couldn’t be managed. That I wasn’t going to be shaped into someone’s idea of a wife or an asset or a pretty thing on their arm.
It was about control. Or rather—about refusing to give it up.
Langston offering to help me wasn’t him trying to cage me.
He wasn’t telling me not to dream. He believed in it. Believed inme.
And instead of trusting that, I fought him. Because fighting is easier than risking my heart.
My chest tightens as the thought lands.
Have I been confusing protection with control?
I hear soft footsteps in the hallway and don’t look up when Mabel pauses in the doorway. She doesn’t knock.
She steps into the room quietly, her presence warm and familiar.
“Sabrina,” she says gently. “Are you all right, dear?”
The question cracks something open.
I look up at her, my vision blurring before I can stop it. The words tumble out before I can second-guess them.
“I think…” My voice wobbles. I swallow hard. “I think I just made the biggest mistake.”
One tear escapes. Just one. It slides down my cheek before I can wipe it away.
Mabel doesn’t hesitate.
She crosses the room and pulls me into her arms, wrapping me up in a hug so familiar it makes my breath hitch. Her arms are strong and soft at the same time, smelling faintly of laundry soap and something warm I can’t quite place.
It feels like home.
And it makes me ache.
