“I was trying to find proof. I was trying to figure out how deep it went?—“
“You were trying not to lose me.” The truth cuts through his excuses. “You knew that if I found out, I'd leave. So you kept your mouth shut.”
“Yes.” The word comes out raw. “Yes, I was selfish. I was terrified of losing you.” He steps closer, not touching, just closing the distance. “But Emma, look at what's happening right now. You're proving I was right to be afraid.”
“Excuse me?”
“I didn't order the hit on your family. I didn't even know about it until Maddox found the file. I've spent three years trying to distance myself from everything Hammond stands for. I changed my name. I built my own company. I cut ties with their money, their methods, their world.” His voice rises. “And you're looking at me right now like I'm the one who killed them.”
“Your family?—“
“My family is not me.” He's shaking now. “I am not my father. I am not my mother. I didn't choose to be born into that name, and I've done everything in my power to become someone else. But you can't see that, can you? All you see is Hammond.”
The ugly, uncomfortable truth.
What did you expect?” My voice wavers. “You drop a bomb like that and expect me to just?—“
“I expected you to be angry. I expected you to need time. I didn't expect you to hold me responsible for something I had no control over.” He exhales, the fight draining out of him. “I love you, Emma. Not some ideal version. You. The woman who hums when she's sketching. The one who wears heels even when they hurt because she likes feeling tall. The one who dances in the kitchen when a pop song comes on and thinks no one's watching.”
My breath catches.
“The one who stroked my hair in the hospital when she thought I was asleep.” His voice breaks. “That's who I fell in love with. That's who I want beside me. Not because you're perfect, but because you're you.”
Tears blur my vision. I want to hold onto my anger. It's easier than this. Easier than feeling everything at once.
“So tell me,” he says quietly. “What can I do? What do I have to do for you to see me as myself? Not as a Hammond. Not as my father's son. Just me.”
I don't have an answer. The question hangs in the air between us.
“I don't know,” I whisper.
“Before you knew about my family, you were falling in love with me. We were happy.” His voice is raw. “I'm still the same man, Emma. I left that family behind years ago. You're the one person who made me feel at home. Please...”
He steps toward me, stumbles. His injured leg buckles. I reach for him before I can think, hands catching his arms, steadying him.
“The contact is like a jolt. His skin warm against mine. His body so familiar. So right. I hate how much I've missed this. How much I need it even now.
He doesn't let go. Neither do I.”
“The tears come without warning. Not about him. Not about the lies. Aboutthem.
“How can someone take my family away twice?” The words tear out of me, jagged and broken. “I spent years learning how to live without them. Built a new life. Found a way to be okay. And now you're telling me it was all a lie. That someone murdered them and got away with it.”
I'm sob, ugly and raw. “I miss them every day. Every single day. And now I have to grieve them all over again. Accept that someone chose to take them from me. And I never even knew.”
Kai pulls me against his chest. I should push him away. Should be stronger than this. But I can't. I'm falling apart, and he's the only thing holding me together.
“I'm going to find them.” His voice is fierce against my hair. “The people who did this. I've already been looking. Maddox has leads. We're going to track down everyone connected to what happened to your family.”
I pull back enough to look at him. Tears stream down his face, cutting tracks through the stubble on his jaw. I've never seen him cry before. This man who holds everything so tight. Who never lets anyone see him break.
He's breaking now. For me.
“I will have no peace until I bring them to justice, Emma. I swear to you. On my life. On everything I am. I will make this right.”
And I believe him.
God help me, I believe him.
