“That’s why I’m still alive,” I said. “That’s why I still have my patch. Because I told him we were already married. Reaper decided that marriage changed the rules.”
Hope’s hands tightened in her lap, her knuckles going white. “But we’re not married.”
“No.” The word came out flat, final. “We’re not.”
She looked away, her jaw tightening. I could see the hurt flickering across her face, the betrayal settling into the lines around her mouth.
“Hope.”
“Why are you telling me this now?” Her voice was quiet and controlled. Too controlled.
“Because Reaper knows the truth.”
Her head snapped back toward me, her eyes wide. “What?”
“He knows I lied.” I forced myself to keep talking, to get it all out before I lost my nerve. “He gave me an order: I have to actually marry you. In front of the club. A real ceremony, a real commitment. Before Ghost and Shadow find out the truth.”
Hope stood abruptly, her movements sharp and jerky. She walked to the window, her arms wrapping around herself like she was trying to hold herself together. “So that’s what this is,” she said, her voice tight. “You’re here to tell me that Reaper ordered you to marry me, and now I have to go along with it.”
“No.”
“Because that’s what it sounds like, Chapman.” She turned to face me, and I saw tears glistening in her eyes. “It sounds like you lied to save your own skin, and now you’re here to make sure I play along so you don’t get caught.”
“That’s not—” I tried to sit up, but pain lanced through my ribs and I fell back against the pillows with a hiss. “Fuck. Hope, that’s not what this is.”
“Then what is it?” She took a step toward me, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you used me. You told Reaper we were married to avoid the death penalty, and now you’re here to make sure I don’t blow your cover.”
“I didn’t use you.”
“Then why did you lie?”
“Because I was desperate!” The words came out louder than I intended, rough and raw. “Because I knew I was about to die, and all I could think about was you. About never seeing you again. About never getting the chance to tell you—”
I stopped, my throat closing around the words.
Hope was staring at me, her chest rising and falling rapidly, tears streaming down her face.
“Tell me what?” she whispered.
I closed my eyes, feeling the weight of everything pressing down on me. The pain in my body. The fear in my chest. The truth I had been running from the moment I met her. “That I love you,” I said quietly. “And I want to marry you. Not because Reaper ordered it. Not because it’s the only way to keep my cut. But because when I said those words to him, when I told him we were married, I realized I meant them.”
Silence filled the room, thick and heavy.
I opened my eyes and looked at her. She was standing frozen by the window, her arms still wrapped around herself, tears still falling.
“I know I lied,” I continued, my voice breaking. “I know I fucked up. But, Hope, I swear to God, when I told Reaper we were married, something shifted. It wasn’t just a lie to save my ass. It was the truth I wanted. The future I wanted.”
“Chapman.”
“I want to marry you,” I said again, forcing myself to hold her gaze. “I want to stand in front of the club and make it real. I want to wake up next to you every morning and fall asleep beside you every night. I want to build a life with you and Aurora. I want—”
“Stop.”
The word was quiet but firm. I stopped, my heart hammering in my chest.
Hope walked slowly back to the bed and sat down, her movements careful and deliberate. She didn’t look at me. Instead, she stared at her hands, her fingers twisting together in her lap.
“I love you,” she breathed. “You know I do.”
