Page 111 of In Shadows We Dance

I trace the curve of her jaw. “You haven’t lost anything. You’ve just stopped hiding. There’s a difference.”

Her head turns, eyes searching out mine. They’re wide, full of confusion. “What does this mean?”

“This?”

“What we just did … what you made me do …” Her words falter, but her gaze holds.

Brave little Ballerina.

“I didn’t make youdoanything. You gave yourself to me.” I’m not going to let her retreat, or deny that she was a willingparticipant in what happened tonight. “Completely.”

Her cheeks flush, and she turns her head. Like that’s going to save her from me. I catch her chin and guide her back to face me, my thumb brushing over her bottom lip.

“Don’t look away now.”

Her lips press together, but she doesn’t pull away.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.” Her voice breaks, soft but trembling. The cracks in her armor widen, letting me in.

“You don’t have to do anything. Just accept it.” My hand stays on her jaw, my grip firm but steady, grounding her in a way I know she’s not ready to admit. “What we are. What you’ve always wanted.”

“What if I can’t?”

That pulls a smile from me. “But you can. You already have.”

Her breathing slows, her chest rising and falling in a deep sigh. She’s letting go. I could almost call it surrender, but my mafia princess will never give in without a fight.

The quiet stretches between us. I don’t fill it. I let her sit with the silence, and wait while she works out what she wants to ask me in her head.

When her voice finally comes, it’s quieter than before. “What you told me … about my father, about my life … it doesn’t feel real.”

I reach out and curl my fingers around her wrist, feeling the faint pulse beneath her skin.

“Because the lie was your reality for so long. It’s going to take some time for the truth to feel real.”

Her brows draw together, and she stares at the blanket bunched in her hands. “Why would they do that to me? Why would they hide everything?”

“To keep you safe. But in protecting you, they stole everything else.”

She pulls her wrist free, only to find my hand and hold onto it. “What do you mean?”

I raise up on one elbow and look down at her. “Ileana, youdon’texist.” The words are blunt. There’s no other way to break through the wall of denial she’s building. “Not in any way that matters. You don’t have a social security number. No passport. No bank account. Nothing that ties you to this world.”

Her breath catches, and her eyes snap to mine, wide with the shock I’ve been waiting for.

“If you wanted to leave tomorrow, you couldn’t. If you wanted to start a life elsewhere, get a job, travel, get married. None of it would be possible. Fuck, you can’t even go to fucking college out of state. Your father didn’t just lie to you. Heerasedyou.”

She doesn’t respond, but her lip trembles as the truth settles into her, the cracks in her foundation widening with every breath.

“I didn’t ask for this.”

“I know.” I squeeze her fingers, grounding her again. “But it doesn’t change the fact that it’s your reality. And unless you face it, unless you confront them, you’ll always be trapped in the cage they built for you.”

“Why do you care so much? Why are you doing this?”

I lean closer, my lips seeking out the pulse at the base of her throat. “Because you’re mine. You’ve been mine since the moment I saw you. And I don’t let go of what’s mine.”

I kiss my way along her jaw, to her lips.

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