Page 147 of Possession

A small, guilty smile tugs at the corner of her lips. “Yeah. He did. And that plane he sent was something else.”

“Did he make you come?”

“Of course not, Megan. I wanted to.”

I exhale, my eyes flicking toward my husband—my husband—who is watching us from a distance, talking to Christian and Vaughn but keeping an eye on me like he always does.

He knows I’m a fighter.

But he also knows that I don’t need to keep fighting forever.

I turn back to Naomi, crossing my arms. “What do you want from me?”

She winces slightly at my bluntness. “I don’t know,” she admits. “I just… I wanted to be here. For you.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Now?”

She lets out a small, breathy laugh. “Yeah. A little late, I know.”

I nod slowly. “Yeah.”

She bites her lip, her expression serious now. “I was scared, Megan.”

I tilt my head. “Of what?”

She exhales heavily. “Of what it would mean to choose you over my father. There are serious consequences when you betray someone like him.”

A beat of silence.

Then—

“But I did it,” she says quietly. “I left.”

My breath catches.

“You… left?”

She nods. “Gabriel—my husband—helped me. We, well,I… cut ties with my father. His relationship with him is a little more complicated.”

My chest tightens.

I don’t know what I expected from this conversation, but it wasn’t this.

I swallow the lump in my throat.

“That’s… that’s big for you.”

She gives me a weak smile. “Yeah. It is.”

Another pause.

And then she whispers, “I’m sorry, Megan.”

For the first time tonight, my vision blurs.

I shouldn’t let this get to me. I should be stronger than this. But hearing her say it—finally, truly say it—it cracks something in me.

The anger starts to fade.

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