But I do.
Because ten days from now, I step into the biggest fight of my career. And whatever war she thinks she’s shielding me from is already moving.
Tomorrow, the fight gets closer. Tomorrow, whoever is orchestrating this fiasco will make anothermove.
But right now, she’s floating in my arms instead of drowning in her history. And that is enough.
By the time the house quiets, it’s past midnight.
Everyone’s gone except the resonance of laughter in the walls and the slight smell of chlorine drifting in from the patio.
We’re curled together in her den, the lights low, some movie playing that neither of us is watching. She fits into me as if she belongs there. I trace circles over her shoulder and feel something unfamiliar settle in my chest.
Not adrenaline. Not heat.
Certainty.
“You don’t get to decide my breaking point for me,” I say quietly, “If this turns ugly, we face it together.”
She lifts her head, searching my face like she’s measuring whether I understand the cost of what I’m saying.
“I love you,” I add. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
Her breath stutters just slightly. I kiss her slowly, deliberately, not rushed, not frantic. It isn’t about heat. It’s about promise. When we finally pull back, she’s still studying me.
“There’s one more thing,” she says quietly. “I feel the need to stress this part, so you fully understand.”
I don’t move. I don’t tense. I don’t give her a reason to doubt me. “Tell me.”
She swallows. “He didn’t just disappear after I got out,” she says. “He rebuilt. Politically. He has fortified his defenses. He has donors. He has influence. If he decides I’m a threat now…”
She doesn’t finish.
“He’s already decided that. Hasn’t he?” I ask.
She closes her eyes for a heartbeat before meeting mine head-on. “Yes.”
There it is. The part she was trying to protect me from.
I brush my thumb along her cheek. “Then he’s not done.”
She studies me, as if waiting for hesitation. There isn’t any.
“Ten days,” I say.
“What?”
“Ten days until my fight. I finish that. Then we deal with him. Together.”
Her mouth tightens. “Luke, that’s not how this works.”
“It is for me.”
Because I understand something now that I didn’t before. He fights in shadows. I fight under the bright lights. And I’m not stepping away from either. They’re already watching us. They already know everything about us. They’ll use the next ten days to their advantage, including my fight. I can already see it coming, and so can Andi.
She hesitates, then nods once.
“I may need you to remind me,” she admits softly, “that I don’t have to do everything alone.”
