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She crunches her brows, her eyes locked on the key. “What’s that for?”
“This.” I extend my arms in a wide gesture around the store.
Confusion unfurls on her face. “What do you mean? Why would I need a key to this store?”
“Because it’s yours,” I reveal. “You are the owner of this store, and this key belongs to you.”
Her jaw drops and she looks at me as if I’d just handed her a ticking bomb.
“W-w-what…”
“Don’t worry, it’s not an obligation,” I cut her off. “Nor is it a present, really. It’s just a way for you to make your own money—in a way that’s more suitable for someone like you.”
Her eyes flit back and forth between me and the key, before she turns around to scan the store.Herbookstore.
“Or would you rather go back to The Velvet Rooms?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No. Of course not.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want you to either.”
“But this is…,” she murmurs. “I don’t even know where to—”
“I can help you,” I insist. “Iwantto help you. I have invested in other business endeavors before, remember? And I’ve never invested in anything I didn’t believe in.”
She turns back to me, still in disbelief. “You… believe in me? With this?”
My nod is as adamant as my voice when I respond: “Are you kidding me? After all you’ve had to overcome—how could I not believe you? You’re smart, capable and you have ambition. You’re one of us.”
“Us?”
I smirk at her and roll up my sleeve to reveal the large wheat ear tattoo on my forearm. She has seen it before, and her brows arch in question when she looks at me.
“The Plutus Society,” I explain. “That’s what we called ourselves back then. For us, Plutus doesn’t only represent wealth, but also the will to get there—ambition, you could say.”
“Who says I want to get rich?”she retorts, tilting her head to the side.
“You want to build something of your own, don’t you?” I implore. “You want to stand on your own two feet and leave your past behind, right?”
She nods, her lips thinly pressed together.
“Well, then you will get rich, whether you want to or not,” I tell her, adding a little wink to my words. “I know you have it in yourself to achieve your dream. All I’m asking is for you to let me help you get there.”
Kat swallows dryly and lowers her eyes, as she begins to tear up.
“This is too much,” she objects. “You’re too good to me.”
I get up from my seat and dash around the table, going down on my knees right next to her, before I place a finger below her chin to make her look at me. She’s tense and her lips are quivering, but she reaches for my other hand in her lap, squeezing it tightly, before she speaks.
“I love you, Kat,” I tell her, watching the first set of tears rolling down her flushed cheeks. “Please, give this a chance. Give us a chance.”
My heart almost leaps out of my chest when her pretty lips curve into a smile and she nods at me.
“I love you, too, Logan,” she breathes—before our lips meet for another kiss.
A kiss that feels different than all othersbefore, because there’s so much more to it. It feels passionate, trusting, grateful, right, soothing, and… real.
Epilog 1
