For a long moment, neither of us moves.
His voice is low, rough with sleep—and something that sounds like regret. “I’m sorry about last night. I shouldn’t have come home in that state.”
His thumb strokes once across my hip, barely there.
He’s apologizing but not for the drunkenness. For the vulnerability. For needing me. For letting me see him crack. And God help me, it’s the most dangerous thing he’s ever done.
“Yes, you should have.”
His brows pull together, confused, like he isn’t used to someone disagreeing with him.
I take a slow breath, searching for words that don’t shatter me.
“This is your home, Lorenzo. This is where you should feel safe.” My voice softens. “I’m the one who doesn’t belong.”
He opens his mouth, but I press a finger gently to his lips.
“No. Let me finish.”
His eyes darken. Not with anger, but with something dangerously close to pain.
“I understand why you chose her,” I say, even though the words scrape my throat raw. “I really do. And I meant what I said last night. I was never supposed to be here.”
My gaze locks with his, my truth laid bare.
“You have to let me go. It’s not fair to keep me here when I can’t have you.”
His jaw tics, muscles working like he’s holding back a thousand words.
“It’s not safe,” he finally says.
“So make it safe.” I give him a small smile that hurts more than any wound. “You’re a man of many talents. I’m sure this is nothing for you to handle when you give it your full attention.”
His exhale is sharply, like I just hit something dead center.
“She’s pregnant,” he says.
The words don’t feel like a blow. They feel like a detonation. Of course Francesca is pregnant. Of course she has the one thing I never could have with him.
A future.
Something inside me caves but on the outside I just nod.
“I’ll give you a month, Lorenzo.” My voice sounds steady when I’m anything but. “Find whoever hired those men who tried to get Sienna at our party. And then let me leave.”
I swallow hard.
“If you haven’t found them in a month, I’m still going to go. I have to.”
His hand tightens on my hip, possession in every line of his body.
“You may be the only person on this planet I’ll allow to speak to me like that.” His gaze drags over me, burning. “I have my own stipulations.”
“Such as?” I whisper.
“I will take care of the Kansas City problem and make it safe for your return within one month.” His thumb traces my skin, slowly. “But you are going to stay in here, with me,cara, in my room and in my bed. We will have each other as much as we can in those thirty days.”
Heat surges through me, instant and uncontrollable. He isn’t asking. He’s claiming.
