The words settled between them, simple and undeniable.
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” she asked softly.
“Back then?” he said. “You had your whole world ahead of you. I wasn’t going to complicate it.”
“And now?”
He met her eyes.
“Now you’re standing right in front of me.”
Something inside her answered before she spoke.
“I don’t want to go forward alone,” she said.
Ethan stepped closer.
“I don’t do temporary,” he said quietly. “And I don’t do halfway. If I choose you, I’m all in.”
Amara searched his face and found no hesitation there.
“Then don’t walk away,” she said.
“I won’t.”
The kiss that followed was not dramatic. It was not reckless. It was steady, soft, certain—like something that had been growing quietly for years and had finally found its moment.
Life did not return to the old normal after that.
It became something better.
The estate no longer felt like a fortress. Her company stabilized. Trust was rebuilt. The city moved on to new scandals. The scars on her body faded slowly, while the ones inside her settled into wisdom.
And through all of it, Ethan remained.
