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He stood and held the folder toward her. "This belongs to you."

Lily looked down at the photographs one last time. The woman staring back at her from those glossy pages looked frightened and alone. She barely recognized herself.

Soren didn't rush her. He simply stood beside her, one hand resting lightly against the small of her back.

"I'm ready." She took the first photograph. It was the one of her leaving Collins Financial. Her fingers trembled only slightly as she dropped it into the fire.

The edges curled almost instantly and within seconds, the photos of her were gone. One after another, she fed the fire—every picture, every note, and every page that catalogued her life as though she were something to be bought and sold. By the time she reached the bottom of the folder, tears streamed silently down her face. Not tears of grief, but tears of release. She watched the final page blacken and disappear into glowing ash.

"It's over,” she breathed.

Soren slipped his arm around her shoulders. "Yes, it is."

She leaned against him. "They don't own my story anymore."

"No." His lips brushed the top of her head. "They never did, babygirl."

They stayed outside until the fire burned low. The silence between them wasn't awkward. It never seemed to be anymore. Soren had a way of making silence feel safe and comfortable—like home. She smiled to herself. Home. She'd spent years believing home was a place—a house or an apartment with four walls and a roof. She'd been wrong. Home was a person.

Soren looked down at her. "What are you thinking about?"

She smiled. "You."

His eyebrow lifted. "Should I be worried?"

"A little,” she teased.

He chuckled. "I usually am when you smile at me like that."

She turned toward him. "When did you know?"

"Know what?" he asked, looking a bit confused.

"That you loved me.” Her cheeks warmed.

Soren didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked out over the gardens. "I don't think there was one moment. I think it happened a hundred different times."

She quietly waited him out.

"The first time you smiled at Maria. The night you fell asleep holding my hand. The way you thanked every member of my security team. The fact that you apologized to me for bleeding on my shirt."

She laughed. "I did do that. I ruined your shirt."

"Lily." He smiled. "I own more shirts."

She laughed harder. "I know."

His expression softened. "I realized somewhere along the way—" He reached for her hand. "That I wasn't protecting you because you were a witness. I was protecting you because the thought of losing you became unbearable."

Emotion clogged her throat. "I think that I fell in love with you the night that you made me tea,” she said, looking down at their joined hands.

Soren blinked. "The tea made you fall in love with me?"

She nodded. "I'd been terrified all night. I accidentally called you Daddy, and I thought you'd think I was ridiculous, but you didn't. Instead, you made me tea.” She looked up at him.

Soren smiled faintly. "It wasn't very good tea."

"It was perfect." She stood on her toes and kissed him softly, and when she pulled away, she rested her forehead against his. "You know something?"