"And then you threw me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried me to your car."
Despite everything, I almost smile. "You bit me."
"You deserved it."
"I did."
She turns fully now. Her arms are still crossed, but something in her posture has shifted. Less defensive. More curious.
"What about it?"
I look at her. Really look at her. The way I've been looking at her for two years through surveillance feeds and photographs and the occasional glimpse from across a street.
"When you opened that door," I say, "something happened."
Her brow furrows. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I've been doing this job for twenty years. I've knocked on hundreds of doors. Talked to hundreds of people. Threatened some. Killed others. It's all the same to me. Faces blur together. Names don't stick. I do what needs to be done and I move on."
I pause. The words are harder than I expected.
"But when you opened that door, Marina... I couldn't move on."
She stares at me.
"You were angry," I continue. "Scared. Defiant. You told me no. Nobody tells me no. Not like that. Not with that look in your eyes. Like you'd rather die than let me push you around."
"I was terrified," she says quietly.
"I know. I could see it. But you didn't let the fear win. You stood there in your doorway and you looked at me like I was just a man. Not a monster. Not a weapon. Just a man who was inconveniencing you."
I shake my head.
"Do you know how long it had been since someone looked at me like that? Like I was human?"
Marina doesn't answer.
"I threw you over my shoulder because I had a job to do. Because Sophia needed you. But the whole drive to the house, all I could think about was your face. The way you looked at me. The way you fought back even though you knew you couldn't win."
My voice drops.
"I fell in love with you in that moment."
The words hang in the air between us.
Marina's expression shifts. Disbelief. Confusion. Something else I can't name.
"That's insane," she says.
"Probably."
"You can't fall in love with someone in thirty seconds."
"I didn't think so either."
"We didn't even have a conversation. You kidnapped me."
"I know."
