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I placed my other hand on top of hers. “I love you for wanting to care for me and put me first. But it would be best if you let me make these choices for myself. I know you don’t want to see me in pain, but the pain is inevitable. It’s something that is almost a guarantee.Choosing to love this man could bring so much pain because Nathaniel Cane is not someone you can get over. He could be my ruin. But he could also be the most beautiful thing in my life—and I’m willing to take the risk. I’m ready to allow myself to free fall and chance not being caught by him because not trying at all could be the biggest regret of my life.”
She nodded in understanding, but I could still tell from her face that she still had reservations. “I will be watching him closely, however. You know you’re my girl and will always come first.”
“I know.” I pulled her down toward me so I could hug her. “You’re the best.”
She tightened her hold on me. “Bitch, I know. I’m literally like the start of your universe.”
We chuckled, pulling away from each other.
The door creaked open, and Xander walked in with Nate behind him.
As soon as my eyes locked on him, everything else faded.
“We will give you two a moment,” Selena said.
I barely even registered our two friends leaving the room.
When the door shut behind them, he and I were alone.
I stretched out my hand toward him. “Come here.”
His legs moved, but his face remained passive. It was almost like he was trying to gauge just how I would feel. When he got to the side of my bed, his hand came in mine, and I let go of the breath I had been holding. His fingers interlaced with mine, and our gazes moved to where we connected.
Neither spoke, but a million different things were being said then.
I looked up at his face, and I could see the tortured look on his face. His eyes refused to meet mine, but his hold on me stayed the same.
“Nate,” I called his name softly, but he didn’t meet my gaze. “Look at me.”
He stayed glued to our hands.
“Nate.”
Nothing.
“Nathaniel, look at me.”
He looked up finally, and I could see exactly what he felt. He opened his lips to speak, but no words came out.
“I love you,” were the three words I had been scared to tell him, but they felt right to say now. “I don’t know when, and I don’t know how I came to love you, but I just did. Your love crept up on me silently. It didn’t announce itself loudly nor make a show of it like I’m used to. It came in softly and touched my heart gently, almost like a whisper.”
His eyes shined down on me, giving me the encouragement I needed to continue what I was saying.
“I am so sorry you had to hold this darkness all on your own, your mother, my mother, and Andre. You had a mountain of pain to hold in such small hands, and I’m sorry we weren’t there to help you with your darkness.”
“Amelia, you don’t—”
“Let me say this.” I reached up to cup his cheek. “I love you, Nathaniel Cane, and nothing you say or do will change my mind. Should you have told me? Yes. But I understand why you didn’t.”
“You do?”
“I can’t begin to imagine the pain you must have felt from that night. You were the only one who remembered it fully. But a part of you also died that night along with our mother. Your innocence was stolen.”
My words filled the room, blanketing over us.
“I don’t want you to think I’m not in this with you because I am. What happened that night was a tragedy and changed our lives for eternity. But it does not define us. You are a brave and strong human and are the sole reason I’m still alive today.”
The tears pricked my eyes as my heart poured out all the emotion it had stored for weeks.
