“That’s right.”
“He knew about the meeting.”
“Someone had to have told him. I’m going to find out who.”
I lift my head and look at him. He’s tired. And not just from today either. He’s tired from all of it, exhausted from carrying this impossible, tangled up situation that neither of us asked for and neither of us can walk away from.
“Gabriel—”
“I love you.”
His voice is raw. There’s no preamble, no careful framing of what he said. Just three words, just the truth.
I stare at him.
“I have loved you longer than I should have. Before I had any right to. Before you even knew my name. But I tried to deny it, telling myself it was because I owed Lev my life and I was protecting his daughter, that it was only because of the obligation, the debt, that I felt love for you. But that is not true. I love you, truly love you.”
“Gabriel—”
“And I will kill anyone who threatens you, anyone who threatens our child. I will take apart every Bratva piece by piece if that’s what I have to do. And I need you to understand what that means, because the man sitting in front of you isn’t a good man. But he’s yours. Completely, irrevocably. And he will not stop.”
I set down the cloth. Then I take his face in both hands. His stubble is rough against my palms. His eyes are dark and searching, and for the first time since I’ve known him, unguarded.
He’s in my hands, literally and figuratively.
“I love you,” I say as I look into his eyes. “I love you, and it scares me. I don’t know what happens next, but I’m here. And I’m not running.”
Something seems to break behind his eyes. It’s not dramatic—that’s not his style. But there’s a fracture, like a wall that’s been holding back a flood finally develops the one crack that it can’t survive.
He stands and pulls me up into his arms. I go willingly and completely. And when he kisses me, it isn’t possessive, or urgent, or the hungry claiming of a man who takes what he wants.
It’s slow, it’s reverent, it’s devastating. It’s the kind of kiss that says everything without words.
He wraps his arms around me, holding me against his chest like I’m the most precious thing in the world. I can feel his heartbeat. It’s fast, faster than his calm composure would ever suggest.
“Say it again,” he speaks against my temple.
“I love you.”
His arms tighten around me.
“Again.”
“I love you, Gabriel.”
He exhales and presses his face into my neck.
We stay like that for several minutes.
Outside of this house, a war is building. But in here, for now, there’s only this.
I close my eyes and hold on.
CHAPTER 41
THEA
One day later…
