Page 173 of A Smile Full of Lies
Her voice softened.
“You were right. I just didn’t realize how much until today.”
I stepped closer. Slid my fingers under the hem of the sweatshirt, against the warm skin of her waist.
“You were always going to do it right, baby. With or without her. But I wasn’t letting a snake like Nina Frost profit off my family’s death, or my family’s future, for that matter. That wasn’t negotiable.”
Her breath caught at the wordfamily.
“Do you know,” she whispered, “that I didn’t believe I’d ever get to be part of something like that again? After Gran died… I thought that was it. That I was done.”
“You’re not done,” I said. “You’re just getting started.”
Her chin tilted up.
“With you?”
I smiled.
“With me.”
She leaned into me like she was falling into something bottomless and safe at the same time. My hand slid into her hair. She rested her cheek against my chest.
“This is happening fast,” she murmured. “People are going to say I’m crazy.”
“They already say worse,” I said, pressing a kiss to her temple.
“I don’t care.”
“Neither do I.”
A beat of silence stretched between us.
Then she said, so quietly it was almost a thought instead of a sentence?—
“Take me there.”
My pulse stuttered.
“To Stonewood Manor,” she added, lifting her eyes to mine. “Let’s go.”
I blinked.
“Right now?”
She nodded.
“Today.”
“Ros—”
“I want to go home, Knox. I love this little house next to Gran’s, but you deserve to reclaim your family’s home for yourself, for your family, for our future children. You started reclaiming it the night of The Hollowing, when you hunted me through the halls. Now let’s go and finish it… make it ours.”
I studied her for a long moment, letting the weight of her words settle in my chest.
There was no hesitation in her eyes. No fear. Just her. Brave as hell. Raw and real and mine.
“You sure?”
