"What happens when they find out it's a lie?"
Shadow's quiet for a long moment. The hum of the engine and the road noise fill the silence.
"Then we make it real."
My heart stops. "What?"
He glances at me, his eyes dark and serious. "We get married. Actually married. Make the lie the truth."
I stare at him. "You're serious."
"Dead serious." His hand finds mine on the console. "I was never going to let you go anyway, Grace. This just... speeds up the timeline."
"Speeds up the—" I laugh, but it comes out slightly hysterical. "Shadow, we've been together less than a week."
"I know."
"You just lost your club. Your brothers. Everything."
"I know that too."
"There's a fifty-thousand-dollar bounty on my head."
"Yeah." His thumb traces circles on the back of my hand. "I'm aware."
I pull my hand away, turn to stare out the window at the dark desert passing by.
My mind is racing.
This is insane.
Getting married to protect me from a decades-old deal. From a dead man's family who thinks they own me.
But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
If I'm married, I'm not a commodity. I'm not something that can be bought, sold, or claimed.
I'm a person who made a choice.
I chose Shadow, and he chose me.
"My father thinks you married me without telling him," I say quietly. "That's worse than just being together, you know. He thinks you didn't even give him the courtesy of knowing."
Shadow's jaw ticks. "I know. And I'll deal with that. But right now, keeping you alive is more important than his feelings."
Fair point.
"Pull over," I say suddenly.
Shadow looks at me. "What?"
"Pull over. I need... I need to look at you for this conversation."
He signals and pulls off onto the shoulder.
The highway is empty—middle of nowhere, desert on all sides, stars overhead.
Shadow kills the engine and turns to face me.
