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His fingers closed around mine.

“Lachlan.”

“I’m so sorry, Mouse.” His voice was rough. “I knew Nik was looking into the Draviks. I should’ve asked what the hell he was doing instead of assuming he understood where the line was.”

“How could you possibly have known he would do this? I’m the one who asked him to investigate them.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better about it.”

“I know.” I tightened my fingers around his. “But what I just learned changes everything about where I go from here, and before I can even begin to figure that out, I need you to understand what you’ve been to me.”

“The first time I heard your voice, men were torturing you. You could have made it stop by giving them what they wanted, and you refused because innocent women would have paid the price. You didn’t even know I was listening, Lachlan. There was no one there for you to impress. That was simply who you were.”

His thumb moved once across my knuckles.

“When I came into that cellar, you had no reason to trust me, but you let me help you anyway. You kept your promise to me and the one you made to Rafael while he was dying. You got me out of that place when leaving me would have been easier and safer for you.”

I stepped a little closer to him.

“And when you make love to me, you don’t touch me like something that needs to be repaired. You know exactly what men did to me, and your hands still move over me like every inch of my body is something you want. You don’t make me feel damaged or fragile. You make me feel like a woman you can’t get enough of.”

His eyes closed for a second.

“The way you kiss me—” Heat mixed with the tears on my face, but I refused to look away. “You make me feel as though I’m the only woman in the world when we’re together. Not someone you rescued. Not someone you have to be careful with. A woman you want.”

Another tear slipped down his cheek.

“You don’t owe me anything for any of it.”

“I know.” I squeezed his hand. “That’s part of the problem. My heart wants to stay right here with you. But my head is so full I can barely sort one feeling from another.”

“I found out Rafael was my father and then lost him almost immediately. The man I’d believed was my father my entire life died horribly. I escaped the only home I’d ever known, even if it was never really a home, and came to a country I’d only read about. In a matter of days, everything changed. I was free. I had friends. I had people willing to help me. I had you, and everything that happened between us.” I shook my head. “I haven’t even had time to grieve Rafael properly, much less figure out where I go from here.”

He lifted my hand, pressed a slow kiss to my fingers, then lowered our joined hands without letting go.

“And now, on top of everything else, my mother’s family not only knows about me; they want to speak to me.” My voice began to shake again. “These are people my mother loved, people who knew her before Ciro ever touched her life.”

I paused, searching for the words.

“I only just chose my own last name a few days ago. I barely know who Isabella Duarte is yet, and now there’s another possible life waiting across an ocean.”

“You don’t have to figure any of that out today. But I do think you should consider getting to know them. They spent a long time searching for your mother. If they’re anything like the family Eliana told you about, they’re going to want you in their lives.”

“I think I do want to know them.” Saying it out loud made everything that could come with that suddenly real, and that scared the hell out of me. “I just don’t know what that means yet.”

“Neither do I.”

Then his thumb went still against my knuckles.

“But it changes something important, Mouse.”

“What?”

He hesitated, and I knew before he answered that I wasn’t going to like whatever came next.

“You have somewhere else to go now.”

I frowned. “You already told me I had options. Nobody here ever told me I had to stay.”