“They chose him because he’s yours,” he interrupts. “They chose him because you matter. And because they understand that harming what you love reaches deeper than harming you directly.”
My breath stutters.
“And that reaches you,” I say.
“Yes.” He lets out a breath. “You aren’t collateral,” he continues. “You aren’t someone I can lose. When they move against you, they move against me. Understand that clearly.”
His eyes drop briefly to my mouth before meeting my eyes again.
“You walked into that room and didn’t look at me first,” I say quietly.
“I needed to see him.”
“You needed to see it yourself,” I say.
“Yes.”
My pulse skips once and then picks up again, louder in my ears than the muted beeping from inside the room.
“You’re no longer adjacent to this world,” he tells me. “You’re inside it. With me.”
“Then I need transparency.”
“You have it,” he states matter-of-factly.
“Not all of it.”
“As much as protects you.”
“That isn’t enough.”
A muscle in his jaw ticks.
“You’re asking to see how I handle threats,” he says. “Once you see it clearly, you don’t get to go back to pretending it doesn’t exist.”
“I already can’t,” I answer. “Alexei took care of that.”
At the sound of Alexei’s name, his expression stills completely.
“Then you understand why this can’t be ignored.”
I let out a slow breath and glance past him down the corridor, giving myself a second to consider what standing beside him truly means, before meeting his eyes again.
“You’re going to do what you think is necessary,” I say.
“Yes.”
“And I’m not going to pretend I don’t understand what that means.”
His eyes hold mine, searching.
“You’re still here,” he says.
“Yes.”
The air between us feels different now, less like negotiation and more like recognition. I inhale a deep breath, aware that I’m not standing here out of confusion or fear, but because I have decided to be.
“You’re terrifying when you’re calm.”
