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“He made me feel important,” I admit quietly. “Needed.”

“That’s how guys like him work, Tate.” He turns to me.

“Yeah.” I swallow hard. “I fucking know that now.”

Lennox studies me carefully before asking the question I know he’s been holding back. “Did you love him?”

I look away immediately. The answer should be easy after everything that happened, but it isn’t. “That’s the worst part,” I whisper, a tear finally slipping down my cheek. “I think part of me still does. Not the version of him that you know. But the soft one I met years ago.” The confession hangs ugly in the room.

Lennox doesn’t judge me for it, though. Doesn’t yell or look disgusted. He just nods once, slowly like he already expected that answer. “You can love someone and still know they’re dangerous,” he says softly.

Tears stream freely down my cheeks now. “I hate that.”

“Yeah.” He nods, trying to be as supportive as he can, but he never could handle me crying.

I laugh shakily, wiping at my face as if to erase the tears that had fallen. “This is pathetic.”

“No,” Lennox says immediately, shaking his head again. “It’s human.” Then—like the thought just hit his memory—he asks, “So…you really threw your phone into traffic?”

I stare at him and raise my brows. “What?”

“Marcus told me when he pulled the footage,” he explains, amusement in his tone.

I groan loudly. “Can we not talk about that?”

“That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.” His dark blue eyes that match mine, glinting while he cracks a smile.

“I panicked!” The pitch in my tone definitely rises.

“You could’ve just turned it off!” He chuckles a little, running a hand through his light brown hair.

“I didn’t want him to be able to track me. So, clearly, I thought further ahead!” My tone sounds like I'm justifying tossing an expensive phone into traffic.

His chuckle turns into a full laugh. The sound catches me so off guard, I just stare at him.

“Wow,” I mutter. “Glad my mental breakdown is funny for you.”

“Oh, it absolutely is.” His face seems brighter while laughing.

“That’s fucking rude.” I huff.

“You launched an iPhone into oncoming traffic like you were in an action movie.” Lennox’s tone is teasing in a lighthearted way.

I flip him off and his grin widens. Just like that, something shifts. The tension eases slightly. For the first time since I arrived, he feels like my brother again, instead of a club president deciding whether or not I’m a liability.

“You know,” he says after a minute, “Dad would lose his mind if he saw you now.”

Emotion sneaks up on me instantly at the mention of him. “Yeah,” I whisper and nod slightly.

“He’d still be proud of you, though,” he insists.

My head snaps up to meet his gaze. “No, he wouldn’t.”

“He would.” He nods with that know-it-all tone.

“Len, I helped those people.” My voice has gone unsteady once again.

“You also took them down,” he fires back at me.