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I stare at him, my chest aching, my mind spinning.

This doesn't feel anonymous anymore. It feels personal. Dangerous. Real.

And I don't know what to do with that.

"I don't know what to say," I whisper.

"You don't have to say anything tonight," he says, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "Just sleep. We'll figure out the rest later."

I nod, too exhausted and overwhelmed to argue.

He pulls the covers over us, and I curl into his chest, letting his warmth and his steady heartbeat lull me toward sleep.

But as I drift off, one thought keeps circling through my mind,

How does he know me so well?

BROCK

I hold Megan until her breathing evens out and I know she's asleep.

Then I lie awake in the darkness, staring at the ceiling, my mind racing.

I almost told her.

The words were right there, on the tip of my tongue. I'm Brock Rhodes. I've wanted you since the day I met you. I recognized you before I ever knocked on that door.

But I couldn't do it.

Not while she's vulnerable and emotionally raw. Not when it would feel like a betrayal of the trust she just gave me.

She needs to know who I am when she's clear-headed. When she can walk away if that's what she wants.

But God, the deception is killing me.

Every time she talks about feeling invisible, about being afraid of wanting too much, I want to tell her that I see her. That I've been seeing her. That I want everything she's afraid to ask for.

And when she called me Daddy⁠—

I close my eyes, remembering the way the word sounded in her voice. Tentative at first, then more confident. Like she was claiming something for herself, not just responding to what I wanted.

It meant something. It means something.

And I can't keep pretending this is just an anonymous arrangement.

I press a kiss to her hair and carefully extract myself from the bed.

She stirs slightly but doesn't wake.

I dress quietly, my movements practiced and efficient. Then I stand by the bed, looking down at her sleeping form, and make a decision.

I can't leave her with nothing this time. I can't let her wake up alone again and think this was just another anonymous hookup.

And I can't keep hiding forever.

Megan is perceptive. She's already starting to ask questions, already sensing that something about Vanguard feels familiar. If I leave her another anonymous note and disappear, I'm just prolonging the inevitable confrontation.

She deserves better than that.