Page 205 of His Reckoning

My chest squeezes painfully.

I keep reading. Now I need to know where she’s going with it.

It doesn’t twist or expose, like I assumed it would.

It just builds with line after line, where the heroine doesn’t see weakness. She sees control, resilience, and strength. The kind of strength that comes from surviving something no one else sees.

My body goes stiff.

I flip to another chapter. Faster now. Searching for the part where she sees his weakness, but it’s consistent. Every time the hero shuts down or he pulls away, she doesn’t see someone damaged. She sees someone who fought to become that way. Someone who had to.

I shift slightly in my chair, trying to shake it off. Trying to find the part where this turns into something I recognize. Where it becomes what I thought it was … but it never does.

There’s a scene near the end, where the hero thinks he’s finally pushed her too far.

I brace for it because that’s how it ends. That’s how it always ends in real life.

Instead, she steps closer until she’s right in front of him.

And she says,“You don’t scare me. Not the control. Not the distance. Not even the parts you think make you hard to love.”

I don’t move or breathe. I can’t.

“Because none of that makes you broken,”she continues.“It makes you someone who survived.”

The words blur slightly on the page. I blink once, then keep reading.

“And I’ve never met anyone stronger than you.”

I lean back slowly in my chair with the book still open in my hands, staring at the words. They don’t feel like exposure, nor do they feel like someone taking something from me.

They feel like—I don’t even have a word for it—understanding?

Maybe something deeper than that. Something I’ve never actually had directed at me before.

I drag a hand down my face and exhale slowly.

Somehow, now, the question isn’t,Did she use me?

It’s,Is this what she actually saw?

And that thought is harder to deal with than anything else.

The knock at my office door barely registers.

“Yeah?” I say absently, eyes still on the page.

The door opens anyway.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything important.”

I look up to find Melissa standing in the doorway, Colton just behind her, arms crossed, like he already knows this isn’t a casual visit.

My eyes flick to the book in my hands, then back to her.

“What are you doing here?”

Melissa steps inside without answering. Her gaze drops to the book, and recognition flashes immediately.