I let go of her, giving her the space she needs and lean back against a set of drawers. “Nobody’s gonna hurt you again. I promise you. You don’t need to be afraid anymore.”
The spell she was under breaks and it’s like a dam brokeas she climbs onto my lap and wraps her arms around my neck. Her body shakes as she silently sobs against my shoulder. And the ice around my heart shatters all over again.
I hold her tight against me, never wanting to let her go. My fingers trace the scars on her back, feeling every smooth and jagged line. “Forgive me,” I whisper, praying she will. Not just for breaking into her bedroom and triggering her trauma, but for everything. The last time I was here, I left a path of destruction in my wake. This time I’ll make things right. “Is Angelos safe?”
She nods against my shoulder with a sniffle. Tears stream down her face and I kiss them away.
“Shh.” I stroke her hair and pull a blanket from her bed to wrap around her as I hold her in my arms. “Let me take care of you.” I pepper her face with kisses, then catch sight of her book on the small table. I reach for it, remembering the well-loved book. Almost every other page is dog-eared, faded pink pen highlighting her favourite quotes. I read aloud.
“With love’s light wings, did I o’erperch these walls;
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.”
She lifts her head, her arms wrapping tighter around my neck. “Will you read more?”
I flick to another one of her dog-eared pages.
“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.”
We hold each other for a long time as I continue to rub her back and read the highlighted passages in her book until she’s nodding off against my chest.
“Let’s get you into bed.”
She’s so tired, she can barely stand, but she doesn’t need to hold herself up. That’s why I’m here.
I kick off my shoes and drop my trousers, then lift my shirt over my head and slide into the bed next to her. We face each other just like our first time.
“Why do you have Magnus on your phone?” Her voice is barely a whisper.
“Is that why you left?”
“You planned to meet him.”
“He hired me to find you.” I run a hand over my face.
“And you took the job? That’s why you were on the flight?” Her body recoils, but I pull her flush with my chest.
“Yes, I took the fucking job. Because I wanted to throw him off the scent. But that’s not why I was on the flight. That encounter was pure fate. I met him afterwards. Figured If he wasn’t hiringme, he’d be hiring some other motherfucker.” I move the hair from her face. “If anyone is going to hunt you down, it’s me. Anyone else, I’d have to kill them.” A grin spreads across my face as if I’m joking, but I’m deadly serious. “Why didn’t you just ask me?”
“Because you lie more than Pinocchio. I can’t trust you.”
“I told you, I’ll spend the rest of my life earning your trust, but you have to let me. You can’t go running off. I need to know where you are, Rose.” A sigh leaves my lungs. “I thought he’d taken you.”
“He visited Angelos at school.”
My insides twist. “I should’ve killed him when I had the chance.”
“I’ll never be free of him.”
“Trust me. You will.”
