Page 191 of The Art of Ruin

I stop close enough to feel his warmth. “You really haven’t slept?” I ask quietly.

Something almost helpless flickers through his expression. “You left.”

The raw honesty of it breaks something open inside me.

Because he says it like it’s a fact.

Slowly, carefully, I lift my hand to his face.

The second my fingers touch his jaw, Adriano closes his eyes briefly like the contact physically hurts him and heals him at the same time.

“I’m still angry with you,” I whisper.

“I know.”

“I still don’t fully trust you.”

Another flinch of pain.

Another nod, as his eyes land on my face with so much love. “I know.”

And God help me—

That’s the thing that finally makes me believe we might survive this after all. “I want to come home.”

His entire body vibrates with a shiver at my words and then he crushes me in his arms. “Thank God.”

“But you should have told me about Jasper coming after ISM and the FBI raid.”

His eyes widen in surprise and then he nods. “I didn’t want you to worry or blame yourself.”

“That’s not for you to decide. I love you, Adi, and part of being with someone is carrying each other’s burdens, not one person carrying it all.”

His hands reach for my hips, and he drops his forehead to mine. “I never want you to feel a day’s pain ever again.”

“I know, but life isn’t like that. What I need is to know I have someone by my side who I can lean on when the weight is too heavy. Someone who trusts me enough to carry some of their weight too. Can you do that?”

“Yes. Fuck yes.”

“Good, now let’s go home.”

33.Adriano

When Casey walks backinto the brownstone carrying her overnight bag and looking nervous enough that it nearly kills me, every instinct in my body reacts to it like something sacred returning.

Letty launches herself at her before the front door even fully closes.

“You came back!”

Casey laughs as she catches her, the sound still a little shaky around the edges. “I did.”

“For forever?”

My chest tightens immediately.

Casey glances up at me over Letty’s curls for one brief second before smoothing her hand down her back. “I’m still figuring some things out,” she says carefully.

It would be easier if she’d lied.