Whether it’s me crying on the floor because the panic is too loud. Or him standing quietly in the doorway, watching me learn how to find myself again.
I can do anything with this man beside me. I can be the girl I always dreamed of being.
Happy.
Loving Drago has given me hope.
It’s given me a future.
Loving Drago has given me the strength to heal myself.
My hand drifts to my stomach. And like he can feel it, like he can feel everything I’m feeling, his hand settles over mine.
Loving Drago was never a choice.
Never a hardship.
Loving Drago is an instinct, something written into my bones long before I understood what it meant.
Now I can lay my past to rest and do something I thought was impossible. I can live in the light.
And so can he. He deserves this just as much as I do.
Because in the end, Drago didn’t just bring me back to life… he made sure I never had to fight for it alone again.
The End.
EPILOGUE
Drago
The morning sun pours through the glass doors like it owns the place. Like it’s finally decided to stop trying to punish us.
The sea is a sheet of blue beyond the terrace, the pool glinting, the air warm enough that I can breathe without my chest tightening like I’m waiting for a gunshot.
And Lily is in my arms, barefoot on marble, wearing a silk robe that barely clings to her skin, her hair piled on top of her head as if she threw it up without thinking.
She’s smiling. Actually smiling. Not the brave smile she wore when she was trying not to fall apart.
A real one.
The kind that belongs to a woman who is loved the way she should have been loved her entire life.
“Okay,” she says, narrowing her eyes at me as we sway slowly in the living room. “First dance practice is going suspiciously well.”
My hands settle on her waist. “That’s because you’re dancing with me.”
She snorts. “I’m a ballerina.”
“And I’m devastatingly talented.” I lie.
I’ve actually found something I am awful at.
“Drago,” she laughs, “you nearly tripped over your own foot.”
“I was testing the floor,” I deadpan.
Her laugh grows louder, and she presses her face into my chest, shoulders shaking.
