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He waited.

That was one of the things I had learned about him. Lachlan didn’t rush to fill the silence simply because it was uncomfortable.

I looked back toward the window, although there was nothing to see now except white clouds and blue sky.

“You have a life waiting for you in New York.” I swallowed. “I don’t.”

His thumb moved slowly over the back of my hand.

“You have a life, Mouse.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Aye. I do.”

I glanced up at him.

“I don’t know what happens next for me.”

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then he leaned closer.

“Neither do I. But we’ll figure it out. There’s no rush.”

I stared down at our joined hands.

“I don’t want to become your responsibility.”

“You’re not. You’re a woman I want in my life. There’s a difference.”

My chest hurt.

He squeezed my hand.

“You don’t have to decide today what the rest of your life looks like. Hell, you don’t have to have it figured out six months from now. Stay with me because you want to stay with me. We’ll sort out the rest as it comes.”

His certainty didn’t answer all the questions crowding my head, but it quieted enough of them that I could finally breathe without fighting for every inhale.

A soft chime sounded through the cabin a few minutes later, followed by one of the pilots letting us know we had leveled off and could move around.

Nik closed his laptop, released something beside his seat, and swiveled the chair until he faced us. Lucian did the same with his.

With both men suddenly turned toward me, every old instinct from La Cruzona told me to prepare for questions and judgment. I straightened without meaning to, bracing for the scrutiny, and Nik noticed.

“I suppose now would be a good time to share with you that I’ve spent several hours digging into your life.”

I cocked one eyebrow at him.

His mouth pulled slightly to one side.

Lachlan frowned. “Stop acting like a dick.”

Nik ignored him.

“There isn’t much to find about the woman sitting in front of me. Ciro kept you almost entirely outside the normal systems. There are no school or employment records, no banking or travel history, and very little proving Isabella Eliana Delgado ever existed beyond his compound.”

Hearing my entire life reduced to almost nothing was strangely unsettling.