And now…someone was listening.
Maybe the fight wasn’t over yet. We’d face new battles, because that was life. But in this moment, yeah, this was enough.
It was more than enough.
Reinhardt’s gaze flicked downward to the hand Cal had on my shoulder. He lifted a brow. “Congratulations,” he said quietly. “On your nuptials.”
Cal and I both inhaled sharply. Reinhardt winked—a quick, conspiratorial thing.
“What?” he teased. “You thought I wouldn’t notice? Please. I see everything.” Then, lowering his voice just slightly, “If you’re planning to rock the boat today, you’ve got an ally on the inside.”
My pulse thundered.
And now, this press conference wasn’t just announcing his retirement. It was announcing a new world. Our world.
Just a couple of speed demons who loved harder than they crashed and changed the entire goddamn grid.
AndnowI was ready to walk into this press conference hand-in-hand with my husband—and blow the whole place wide open.
The rumbleof the press room was a living thing—buzzing, restless, hungry—and it seeped through the backstage walls like electricity searching for somewhere to strike. Cal and I stood just out of sight, tucked in the narrow hallway where the hum oflights mixed with the muted thunder of journalists gathering in anticipation.
I watched him adjust the cuff of his jacket. He tugged at the fabric as if preparing to slip the band beneath it again, but my hand shot out before he could.
“No,” I whispered, curling my fingers around his wrist. “We’re not hiding this today.”
He stilled and looked at me curiously, amusement on his features as he assessed where I was going with this.
Clever man, knowing his wife’s tricks.
And when he looked at me, I felt that familiar, soul-deep charge that existed only between the two of us. Greece had wrapped us up in a world made of sunlight and salt, and even here, even now, that softness clung to us like a second skin.
“Auri…” His voice was low, unsure in a way that only I ever got to hear. “You sure?”
I stepped into his space until his breath mingled with mine.
“They tried to silence us,” I murmured. “They tried to break us. They tried to make us small.” My thumb brushed over the band on his finger, warm from his skin and the weight of everything it meant. “But we did exactly what we said we would. We changed the game.”
He swallowed, chest rising with a slow, heavy inhale.
I held his gaze. “Let the full weight of it hit them,” I whispered. “We aren’t going anywhere, mon champion.”
A slow, devastating smile curved across his lips, the kind that made my knees weaken because it was the smile he only ever gave me—half awe, half possession, all love. Ugh. And that damn dimple. The man was a walking sin.
Cal slid his hand into mine, weaving our fingers together like he never intended to let go again. And just like that, the world settled into place.
We stepped toward the doors just as the coordinator gave the cue.
And the moment they swung open, time stretched—silk-slow, honey-thick—pulling us into the flood of lights.
We walked in together, hand in unmistakable hand, rings bared. No hesitation, no hiding.
A murmur rippled through the audience like a wave hitting shore, building and building until the air vibrated with a stunned, rising awareness.
Callum Fraser did not enter press rooms looking like a man who had already won the race. He did not glow, and he certainly did noteverlook pleased to be interviewing.
But today he did, and he did it with me.
The ruthless, cold, calculated man I met at the beginning of the season was still there, but his happiness bled through it all.
