“Lucian,” I say gently, “my future was shaped the day my family handed me over like a peace offering. Normal left the building a long time ago.”
His jaw tightens.
“You didn’t choose that,” he says.
“No,” I agree. “But I choose this.”
He stills.
“I choose you,” I say.
The words feel solid. Grounded.
“I don’t want a new city,” I continue. “I don’t want a new name. I don’t want your money. I want the man who smells like metal and still presses his head against my chest to hear my heartbeat,” I say. “I want the man who pretends he doesn’t read poetry and then remembers what kind of movies I like. I want the man who thinks he’s too broken to be loved.”
Lucian’s composure fractures just slightly.
“You deserve better,” he says again, but it sounds weaker now. Less certain.
“Maybe,” I admit. “But I don’t want better.”
I tilt his chin up, forcing him to look at me.
“You don’t get to decide what I deserve,” I tell him softly. “That’s my choice.”
His hands hover at my waist like he’s afraid to touch me.
“If I stay,” I say, “it’s not because I’m trapped.”
His breath is uneven now.
“It’s because I love you.”
A terrified silence hangs between us.
He searches my face like he’s looking for doubt. For hesitation. He won’t find it.
“You’d really stay, knowing what I am?”
“I know exactly what you are,” I reply. “You’re a man carrying sins that weren’t his to begin with. You’re a brother protecting Riley. You’re a boss protecting Mara. You’re someone who shut down an empire for one dinner.”
A faint, broken smile flickers across his mouth.
“And you’re mine,” I add softly.
Something shifts in his eyes at that. Relief.
“I don’t want to be free from you,” I whisper. “I want to be with you.”
The words settle into the space between us like something inevitable. Lucian closes his eyes for a moment, just a moment, like he’s letting himself believe it. When he opens them again, there’s still fear there. But there’s something else too.
Hope.
And that’s when I decide?—
If he thinks we can’t be normal…
I’ll show him what normal looks like.
