“Because I wanted to protect Sienna.” Her cheeks flushed crimson. “And I blamed myself for her kidnapping.”
The wind pushed through the open front doors, carrying the sound of the sea. I watched her fingers flex at her sides and the way her pulse jumped at her throat.
“Jacqueline and her entourage are being hunted down,” I said, stepping closer to her. “Every one of them will pay for what they’ve done.”
“Why?”
“She threatened you, hurt your niece, and…” I exhaled, shaking my head. “And she threatened you. In the end, it just boils down to that.”
Her throat worked as she swallowed, the delicate curve of her neck drawing my attention.
“What do you want, Kian?”
“You,” I said. “I’ve been perfectly clear about that.”
She tilted her head. “I don’t understand…Why me?”
“You don’t scare easily,” I said, a hint of a smile threading my voice. “Except when it comes to snakes.”
Her mouth curved into a soft smile. “There’s that.”
I met her gaze before I continued. “You barged into my life, climbed me like an acrobat, sang Britney Spears badly enough to frighten tourists, and somehow managed to wake something within me that I thought had been dead for a very long time.”
Heat bloomed across her fair skin, the flush deepening at the last of my confession.
“You forgot the part where you threw me over your shoulder like a caveman,” she breathed.
My fingers itched to touch her—her hair, her cheek, anything—but I shoved them into my pockets instead.
“I didn’t forget.”
Chapter 21
Sophie
The balcony door was closed, just as Kian had instructed, though I wished it weren’t. Beyond the thick pane of glass, the sea waited—restless and insistent—and I imagined the waves folding over themselves against the shoreline, the sound low and rhythmic enough to pull me under.
I would have preferred that to the way the silence of the room pressed in once the lights were out.
Above me, the ceiling fan turned in a lazy circle, its soft hum a comfort as warm air brushed my skin with each pass.
Sleep refused to come after the conversation I’d just had with Kian, my mind replaying his words and the last three months on an endless loop.
Since I left home, I’d been in motion with suitcases, unfamiliar beds, and foreign towns.
At first, I’d missed the ordinary things with an ache that surprised me. The predictability of my old routine. Coffee with my cousin. Gemma’s laughter, her kids, and the dependability of a job that felt rewarding with each first cry of a newborn. I’d thought distance might dull that longing, but it sharpened it instead, carving out space for memories I hadn’t realized were holdingme together.
This town in Albania had held me longer than anywhere else, its pale stone buildings and narrow roads clinging to the coast as if afraid of the water below.
Each morning, the sea looked different, changing color with the light, but I remained the same: suspended, unsettled, waiting for something to break, or maybe for something to just happen.
And now there was Kian, offering me something dangerously familiar—a version of the life I’d had before Jonathan’s death, before grief rearranged everything, before I’d become entangled in Jonathan’s mess.
Lying there in the dark, I wondered whether Kian’s offer would bring me peace or a way to lose myself completely.
I knew sleep wouldn’t find me, so I slid out of bed and went in search of my phone, finding it discarded on the coffee table.
Scrolling through my contacts, my thumb slowed and then stopped over Violet’s name, but then I glanced at the time and decided against it. Instead, I pulled up Kristoff’s name. I stared at it, letting a beat pass. Then another. The screen dimmed, as if even my phone was growing impatient with my hesitation.
