Page 193 of Theirs to Tempt: The Marriage Claim

I turn toward him.

“I told myself I was different because sometimes I pushed back. Because I understood when Lucian was going too far.” He looks briefly at the floor before meeting my eyes again. “But when it mattered, I stayed beside him.”

I know what he means. The text from Voss.

“I let loyalty to Lucian matter more than your right to know.”

His jaw tightens.

“I’m so fucking sorry, Sophie.”

I wrap my arms around myself, trying to contain everything moving through me.

I never expected either of them to come to me like this, with apologies and no excuses, and I’m not quite sure how to react.

They have completely, thoroughly destroyed me emotionally. “Apologies don’t fix anything.”

“No. They don’t.” Lucian shakes his head, agreeing with me.

Then Caleb speaks again. “The only thing that matters is changed behavior.”

This moment, right here, right now, is everything I hoped for, dreamed of. And yet how can I trust it? “What happens the next time you think I’m making a bad decision?”

Lucian’s mouth tightens faintly. “I tell you.”

“And then?”

“I make an exceptionally persuasive argument.”

A tiny laugh escapes me before I can stop it. After all, he’s still Lucian.

Caleb glances at him. “This is his version of personal growth.”

Lucian ignores him, but for the first time since they arrived, something warm flickers beneath all that devastation.

Then his expression sobers.

“And after I have said everything I believe you need to hear, I let you decide.”

“Even if you think I’m wrong?”

“Yes.”

I look at Caleb.

His answer comes without hesitation. “It will still be your mistake to make.”

My throat closes.

There it is.

Not a promise that they will suddenly become men who never disagree with me. God knows I wouldn’t believe that anyway.

Something much harder.

They will disagree and still leave the decision in my hands.

I look down at my bare left hand.