“She said that we had to hide. But I didn’t know from who,” I add.
His voice is low. Controlled. “She told me that she was taking you out for the day. A trip to the park. She never came back.”
That doesn’t fit. Doesn’t track. But… it explains the fear. The silence. The weight in my mother’s eyes whenever I asked where I came from.
“Why?” I whisper. “Why would she run if you weren’t hurting her?”
Lucian doesn’t speak for a moment. “She was in trouble. She didn’t trust me enough to let me help.” His voice tightens. “Or maybe she didn’t want to be saved. I don’t know. I’ve asked myself that question a thousand times.”
A breath catches in my throat.
“She took you to punish me,” he says, quieter now. “And I let that punishment change me. But I never stopped searching. Never stopped hoping.”
I hold his gaze, swallowing roughly.
“I thought Daniel hurt you.”
He scoffs. “He couldn’t hurt me, so he did the only thing he could think of. He took you. I just… I wanted you to be safe. I wanted to be your father. It got harder as time passed. Not knowing what you looked like, what kind of person you were growing up to be.”
The ache in my chest blooms again. Not pain. Not quite hope, either. Just the sharp, aching shape of something I’ve never had. The reality that an entirely different life was taken from me.
“What happens now?” I ask, my voice barely louder than a breath.
Lucian’s expression doesn’t shift, but something in his posture eases.
“You’re eighteen now, so what you do next… that’s something only you can decide. I want you to come with me, Gracie. But I won’t force you.”
“You’re giving me a choice?” I blink.
His chin dips. “You’ve had too many choices taken from you. That ends here. I want to give you the world. But if you’re happy here, that’s all I can count on.”
I don’t know what to say. There are so many feelings tangled up inside me: anger, relief, disbelief.
“But… I don’t know you.” I pull at my finger. “I don’t know anything about you.”
“You don’t have to,” Lucian replies. “Not yet. You don’t owe me anything. But I’m offering you a home with me, a fresh start.”
Maeve’s hand tightens in mine. Lucian glances between us.
“If she wants to come visit,” he adds, “or stay for a while… That can be arranged.”
Maeve raises her eyebrows at me like,Okay,maybe he’s not the worst.
I don’t smile. But a quiet type of hope starts. Lucian waits. He doesn’t press, doesn’t try to fill the space with reassurances. That alone makes the uncertainty in me ease.
But still, I can’t say yes. Not yet.
“I… I think I need time.” I pause, the whir of the air conditioning filling the space. “To think. To figure out what Iwant to do.”
His expression doesn’t falter. If anything, it softens.
“Of course,” he says. “You don’t have to decide anything right away. You’ve already survived more than anyone ever should. I want you to take your time.”
I watch him stand, expecting him to leave. But he doesn’t move toward the door yet.
Lucian reaches into his coat and pulls out a small black box — sleek, matte, understated. He opens it and sets it on the tray beside my bed.
A phone.
