Page 107 of This Reckless Home

The press start shouting questions.

“Miss. Devonshire, are you saying your father is corrupt?”

“Miss. Devonshire, do you have evidence of police misconduct?”

She answers them with controlled professionalism, and my throat goes tight seeing her come into her own. Seeing her handling this situation like she’s done it a thousand times, when I know she hasn’t.

“Miss. Devonshire — what exactly is your relationship to these men?”

My heart stutters a beat when she looks into the camera directly, as if she’s staring into my fucking eyes.

“They are the men I can't imagine living without. They are a crucial part of our family. They make my life better just by being in it. They saved me when I didn't even realise I was drowning. I love them, without hesitation or reservation. Thank you.”

Then she’s gone, walking off as more questions are shouted at her. I catch a glimpse of Henry helping her off the platform, and my muscles lose some tension knowing she’s not alone.

Silence fills the common area as Ant, Nox and I just stare at the screen for several moments.

“Bloom,” Ant whispers, in an awe-filled tone, and I can’t blame him.

I have no fucking words for what she just did, how she just exposed herself like that. How she claimed us, not knowing if we’re going to claim her back after this, because if I know my Flower, she’ll think we won’t. But she did it anyway.

Nox huffs a small chuckle. “Well, I guess she told them.”

Ant laughs. “She sure did. Beautiful, brave girl.”

My tongue is thick in my mouth, my throat dry. I agree with him. With them both.

I love them.

She just stood in front of the cameras, being broadcast across the globe, and told everyone she loved us. No hedging, no careful language, no protecting herself from what people might say about her loving three men who are currently in jail.

The stone in my stomach is still present. The feeling that once again, my fate is being influenced by someone else’s power, someone who in the past has used that power for something that I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive.

But the weight is less heavy now, because something else is shouting louder.

They saved me when I didn't even realise I was drowning.

My brows dip. I didn’t know she felt that way. Didn’t know she saw us like that, as saviors. My chest puffs out a little at that word. At the fact someone sees me as something worthy, something that isn’t a burden but as something to be treasured.

And she said it before we’re even out. Before we could say it to her, tell her how in many ways she saved us, and not just by giving us a roof over our heads and opportunities we might never have gotten otherwise. She gave us faith in ourselves. She helped us be better men.

And she’s just claimed us not knowing if we will claim her back. Probably believing that we won’t because of her father’s actions.

That stone which was formed the night I found out about Liam’s money is still there, will always be there.

I love her.

That is there too, both of them sitting alongside each other. Both true and unmovable. And right now, my love for her is louder. My need for her settles that other stone. Not eradicating it. Not forgiving it. But helping it feel less sharp.

I catch Nox’s green-eyed stare, and he must read my thoughts on my face as only someone who’s known you for years can. He gives me a single nod.

Yeah, that nod says. Me too.

One of the other men in here, an older guy in orange like us, points at the now blank screen. “That your girl?”

“Yeah,” Ant replies, no hesitation, claiming her back even if she can’t hear or see it. It’s simple, like it’s the easiest thing in the world to say.

That’s our girl. Our woman.