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“Probably. I’m tired, so don’t expect my best work.” I dropped the cloth into the bowl. Pink water splashed over my fingers. “Tell me what you think I’m angry about.”
Lux rubbed both hands over his face and left a faint smear of blood near his temple. “Everything.”
“Lazy answer.”
“I’m exhausted, Liv.”
“So am I. That’s not an excuse.”
He leaned back, head resting against the couch. His eyes closed again.
“I watched you.”
His jaw tightened, though exhaustion had stripped the threat from it.
“I told myself knowing where you were meant keeping you safe. I entered your home because a locked door between us made me feel insane. I collected every piece of your life I wanted and called it preparation instead of what it was. Control.” His mouth twisted. “You trusted the mask. You gave him pieces of yourself I wanted so badly I kept lying to receive more. I asked you to choose me while arranging every choice around you, which, in hindsight, undermined the entire concept.”
My fingers tightened around the cloth and bloody water dripped onto the floor, ignored and forgotten.
He opened his eyes. His throat worked beneath the burns. “I’m sorry.”
I set the bowl on the floor before I could drop it.
“I told myself I was giving you choices,” he said. “But I selected which choices you had.”
“Yeah.”
“I know apologies don’t repair that.”
“No. They don’t.”
His mouth pulled tight at the answer, but he nodded. “I deleted the live feeds before we came upstairs.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Every camera connected to you. Your apartment, the coffee shop, the flower shop, the street access near your building. The files Vale collected are waiting in my office. Physical copies and digital access.”
My skin went cold despite the warmth in the room. “You kept physical copies?”
“I have a problem.”
“I think everyone is aware, Lux.”
He smiled. “You decide what happens to them.”
I studied his face. “You aren’t keeping backups?”
“No.”
Lux shifted toward me and stopped when his knee nearly touched mine. “You are also free to leave at any time.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to leave.”
He went still.
“I want a place here because I chose it,” I said.
His eyes stayed on mine.
