Page 160 of The Silent War
I wanted to say yes. Wanted to nod and give him the comfort he deserved.
But the Accord pressed in my mind, its weight like a knife. The advisors circling. The contracts waiting. My brother’s absence. My family’s warning.
“I’m fine.”
The lie burned.
He didn’t call me on it. Just kept moving the towel against my skin, slow, reverent, his patience heavier than any interrogation.
When he stood, he pulled the towel higher, brushing it across my collarbone. His lips followed, a kiss pressed warm against my collarbone.
“There’s nothing you can’t tell us,” he murmured against me.
I swallowed hard. “Some things aren’t yours to carry.”
He kissed the hollow of my throat, towel brushing over the same spot. “Everything you carry is ours. Always.”
My chest ached.
His thumb stroked across my cheek as he leaned closer, his voice gravel but soft for me. “There’s no part of you too heavy. No truth too dark. You’re ours. That’s the deal.”
I almost broke then. Almost told him everything about the advisors, the signatures stacking higher, the threat.
But I couldn’t.
Not when law weighed heavier than love. When one crack in my silence would mean my end.
I want to tell you. But if I do, I lose you.
So I whispered again, quieter. “I’m fine.”
He didn’t argue. Just cupped my face in his hands, eyes searching mine, then bent and kissed me. Slow.
Nothing rushed. His mouth warm, patient, pulling me under with the kind of devotion that didn’t need force.
When he pulled back, his lips curved faintly, but his gaze never left mine. He took my hand and pressed a kiss to my knuckles, slow and deliberate, the same way he’d dried me.
“You don’t have to be fine,” he whispered. “You just have to be ours.”
I closed my eyes, leaned into him, let his warmth swallow the fear.
If only it were that simple
Chapter Forty-Eight
LUCA
The message lit the screen.
I’m staying at the Adams penthouse tonight.
I read it once. Twice. My jaw locked. She thought that was happening. She thought she could put herself in Adams blue walls, alone, and I’d allow it.
Not a chance.
Alexander was out of town.
I didn’t even hesitate. I already owned the cameras. Every feed in that tower ran through my system. The guards standing at the lobby doors reported to me, not the Adams crest. The pin for the private elevator was one I coded myself.
