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But seeing her now, I was glad she never let me convince her to stop building something for herself. Because when I wasn’t around to do what I was supposed to do, Lakelyn handled her fucking business. She raised my son, built a life for herself, made sure Kaidence never went without. And now she was back home, putting her own shit on hold to take care of her grandmother.

She never complained, never asked anybody for anything… just kept figuring out shit until she didn’t know what else to do.

I looked down at her sleeping face, and something in my chest tightened in a way I hadn’t felt in years.

“Definitely chose the right girl.”

If I had anything to do with it, Lakelyn was finally going to get the security I'd always promised her. She was worrying about everybody, trying to stretch money she barely had, and I was done watching it happen.

I’d spent enough time figuring out how to work through the mansion’s connection to electronics and my old accounts. Once I could access what I needed, I could handle the rest myself by making sure that it reached the right person.

Lakelyn.

The money she was about to receive ought to give her something to smile about when she woke up... but I wasn’t stopping there.

They needed groceries and my son wanted all types of shit for his room.

Lakelyn needed to stop worrying about how she was going to take care of a family when she had a whole fucking man in the house ready to do it for her.

Dead or alive, I hadn’t forgotten how to provide.

I moved closer to her.

For a moment, I gathered enough strength to press a gentle kiss against her forehead.

Lakelyn stirred, then she settled again.

I brushed my hand along her cheek. “Everything’s gonna be all right, baby.”

She let out a soft breath.

The following morning, Lakelyn was going to wake up to something she hadn't expected, and for the remainder of her life, she wasn’t going to have to wonder how she’d make it through another day.

I smiled. “Get some rest, beautiful. Tomorrow, your worries will be no more.”

Chapter nineteen

Lakelyn

Iwoke up feeling better than I had in weeks. It wasn’t because anything had fundamentally changed.

At least, I didn’t think anything had.

I still needed a job, still had bills waiting to be paid, and still had a whole family depending on me to hold everything together. But for some inexplicable reason, I felt lighter, like I’d finally gotten a good night’s sleep without spending half of it staring at the dark and worrying about what the hell I was going to do when morning came.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling for a quiet moment.

The room was completely peaceful, soft morning sunlight slipping through the heavy curtains and stretching in warm golden bands across the floor, while the other side of the bed sat empty.

I reached over to the nightstand for my phone, squinting against the bright glare of the screen.

7:32.

“Damn.” I muttered to myself, shaking my head.

I had slept much later than usual.

After quickly checking through my usual notifications, I opened my banking app mostly out of pure habit, bracing myself for the pathetic double-digit balance I knew was sitting there, and nearly dropped the phone directly onto my face.