She thought he might expose her.Thatwas her concern?She thought he might destroy her.
Nicholas stared at her as if he’d never truly seen her until now.A slow, brutal ache spread through his chest—so deep it felt like the beginning of grief.His hand lifted on instinct, reaching for her, reaching to wipe away the tears?—
And then it stopped in the air.
Because he finally understood.
Beneath everything they’d been—every stolen breath, every fierce look, every promise he’d made with his mouth on hers—she still believed he might use her like a weapon.
His fingers curled, empty.He let his hand fall.
He shook his head, disbelieving, but the movement wasn’t mild now—it was a man trying to refuse a truth his body had already accepted.
“Bea…” His voice came low and wrecked.“If you thought I would do that to you.If you believed, even for a moment, that I would reveal your secret to cause you harm?—”
Something in him went very still.
Then his words shot through clenched teeth.“You never knew me at all.”
Her breath caught, a swift, startled intake she could not disguise.Her mouth trembled.
Nicholas looked away for the first time, jaw working, hand gripping the back of a chair as if he needed something to hold on to.
“I would never expose you,” he said, each word clipped with unmistakable pain.“Not for ambition.Not for revenge.Not even to save my own name.I would die before I let anyone hurt you.”
The truth of it rang through the room.
Her tears fell freely now.
He still didn’t touch her.
“Do you understand me?”he asked quietly.“I will take your secret to my grave.Even if it costs me my standing in Parliament.”
Her shoulders shook with silent sobs.
He let out a long, ragged breath, then turned and crossed to the door.
Before he opened it, he paused.“I didn’t come here to condemn you,” he said softly.“I came here to tell you…” His voice faltered.“I love you.”
She gasped, unable to speak.
Nicholas’s hand lingered on the door handle.
Then he said the last thing he could manage without breaking.“But that was before I knew you don’t trust me.”
And even though it was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, he turned on his heel…and walked away.
