That should not hurt.
The truth now.
As opposed to before.
My pulse throbs behind my eyelids. My fingers ache from how tightly I’m clutching my purse. The hotel room feels too bright, too small, too full of stale conditioned air.
I want out.
I want away from him.
I want to go back six hours and stay asleep forever.
I want to slam myself into his body and sob until none of this is real anymore.
I want too many impossible things at once.
When I open my eyes, he’s watching me like I’m the only thing keeping him upright.
That look used to melt me.
Now it just splits me deeper.
“What do you want from me?” I ask.
His expression changes—softening, breaking, something in between.
“Everything,” he says.
27
LUCA
The word landsin the space between us, huge and raw and way too honest to take back.
Everything.
Natalia sways, one hand flattening harder against the wall at her back, like my answer hit her somewhere physical and she needs the plaster to stay upright through it.
And I hear how it sounds. Like I’m entitled to it. Like I haven’t just admitted I was sent here to end her life and now I’m asking for all of her.
Insane. Walk it back. Now.
“No,” I drag a hand down my face. “That’s not fair. I want a chance. That’s all. I want you to not walk out of here believing I was only with you because of what I was sent to do.”
She doesn’t move. Doesn’t blink.
“I came to that island for one reason. I know that. But from the second you pulled me off that beach, this stopped being simple.”My voice is going. I can feel it fraying. “And by the time I remembered, it was already real for me.”
Her eyes stay on mine, wide and wet and devastated, and I keep going because stopping now would be cowardice, and I’m done with that.
“What I feel for you is the only thing in my life that’s never felt like bullshit.”
She looks like I slapped her.
Then she shakes her head, small and unsteady. “I can’t.”
The word hits hard enough to knock the air out of me.
