Page 47 of The Cost of Silence

Her voice breaks.

Just barely.

A fracture line in her armor.

Without thinking, my hand moves to hers. Just a brush. Just a grounding touch.

She looks down at our hands like she’s surprised to see them touching.

So am I.

I should pull away.

I don’t.

“You’ll get through this,” I say softly. “You’re not alone.”

She breathes in, shaky. “You say that like it’s easy.”

“It’s not.” My thumb grazes her knuckles, barely. “But I’m not going anywhere.”

She looks at our hands again. “But as you said earlier, we’re nothing to each other. When this is over, you’ll go your way and I’ll go mine. We won’t see each other again.”

Fuck, I knew that comment would bite me in the ass. Her words strike at a soft part of me reserved for my family. The thought of not seeing her again feels wrong. It makes me want to lash out at those who’d try and take her from me. “I was a dick for saying that. I didn’t mean it. The truth is, you affect me, Isabella, and I’m not sure how to feel about that.”

Her smile is like the lights being switched on in a dark room, it fills me with something warm. “So, what you’re saying is you like me.”

I snort a laugh. “Okay, let’s not get carried away.”

“Uh-uh, no way. You can’t take it back. You like me and that’s that.”

“Fine, I don’t hate you. Now stop being a pain in my ass.”

“So, now we’re friends, can I decorate your penthouse for the holidays?” she asks suddenly, voice thin with an attempt at humor.

I blink.What the fuck?“Decorate?” I echo. “My penthouse?”

She smiles, tired, fragile, hopeful, but real. “Just a little. I think it needs… some magic.”

Magic. In my protected, quiet, steel-and-glass place.

I should say no.

I should shut that down immediately.

Instead, I hear myself mutter, “We’ll see.”

Her smile grows and something in my chest feels unreasonably warm. Before I can say anything else, or act on the insane urge to lean closer, she shifts, her hand brushing mine again. “Thank you,” she whispers.

“For what?”

“For not letting me fall apart.”

I swallow hard. “You can,” I say. “If you need to.”

She goes still, eyes widening faintly. “You terrify me, and not in the way I thought you would.”

“I won’t apologize for that.”