Page 140 of Allegiant

“What, because I won’t be able to say no either?”

“No, because you’re one of us now.”

I suck in a breath. “What are you saying?”

He chuckles. “I’m not proposing or anything. Not yet, anyway. But you are a Buckingham now. You’re one of us. Part of the family.”

God, it’s everything I ever wanted. Someone who loves me. My studio. A family.

I hedge slightly over my next question. “What about The Firm?”

“You don’t have to be part of that,” Samson assures me. “Of all the partners, only Neo is directly involved, and that’s more because Wylder needs organizing than anything else. Wyatt and Ansel sit in on meetings because they like to know what’s going on and put their foot down if they’re worried about their partners, but you don’t need to do anything you don’t want to.”

I bite my lip as I consider it. How quickly things could’ve gone wrong if anyone other than Samson had been chosen to fulfill Adi’s request. “I think…I think I want to sit in too. I know Wylder said you’ve got new safeguards in place, but I’d like a say. If that’s okay?”

He kisses my temple. “More than okay. I was hoping that’s what you’d say. We actually have a situation right now that we need your opinion on.”

“Really? What?”

Samson holds me tighter, like he’s afraid what he’s about to say might shatter me. “We have Scott Johnson in our basement.”

Goose bumps rise on my arm, and my heart stutters to a stop. “Adam’s murderer?”

“Yes.” Samson doesn’t look away from me as he calmly continues. “We have assembled all the proof that it was him. We haven’t touched him.”

“You mean he’s alive?”

Samson nods. “You were right. Some decisions aren’t ours to make. What happens to Scott should be yours.”

I’m shaking but okay. I’ll be okay so long as Samson keeps holding me. “What if I can’t make a decision?”

“Then we’ll continue holding him until you do,” Samson says. “He’s too much of a danger to society to let him walk free, but we were all in agreement that nothing should happen to him until you were told we had him.”

I swallow down bile. “What if I don’t ever want to make a decision? What if I want someone else to do that?”

“I can do it for you,” Samson says quietly. “I was raised differently. We all were. We don’t look at human life the same way as most people. Maybe that’s wrong, but it’s all we’ve ever known.”

I think about it for a second—how I ran to Adam’s apartment in bare feet as soon as I got the news. The way the EMTs and police tried to hold me back.

But they couldn’t stop me from seeing the stretcher.

The bag on top of it. Zipped up. Hiding Adam from me.

“I want to speak to him,” I blurt out. “And I want to see all the evidence. But…can you take out any crime-scene photos of Adam? I don’t… I can’t see those.”

“Already done,” he says. “I told you I’ll protect you always, and that includes shit like this—the kind of stuff you don’t need to see. Even if you decide to take on a more active role in The Firm, I’ll never let you be exposed to anything that might hurt you. You got that?”

Emotion thickens my voice. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

“You love me,” he says. “You told me it’s okay to be exactly who I am. That’s enough.”

Our car is the last to arrive. When we step inside the foyer, everyone is there except Matthias. Even Jules and Jackson are waiting to greet us with tentative smiles.

“Hi,” I say sheepishly. For someone who loves the spotlight, I’m struggling being under the intense focus of these men. And Dotty, who’s spying from the stairs. She probably thinks she’s being subtle, but the potted plant she’s chosen to hide behind isn’t really covering her. “Thank you for tonight. The studio. For everything. I’m sorry it took me so long to get my head around everything.”

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for.” Neo lifts his chin stubbornly. “Isn’t that right, everyone?”

A round of affirmative sounds comes from the room. One is more tinny than the rest. That’s when I spot the laptop propped up on a side table, Matthias’s solemn face staring out of the screen.