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Olivia’s eyes widen, then she grins. “The girls. They knew you were coming.”

“Maybe. I needed to get info somehow.”

“But how did you know I would behere?”

I shrug and kick the grass, my skin heating. “They told me you were going to the cemetery but didn’t know which one. I may have gone to your childhood home and had a chat with your parents. Where I told them the PG version of what happened, apologized for torpedoing your career, and then declared my undying love for you. I think it worked since they gave me the address. But I honestly couldn’t tell. They have really good poker faces.”

When she doesn’t respond, I look up.

Her shoulders shake, and she covers her mouth with her hand.

My chest seizes. I’m second-guessing everything.Is she mad? Did I do this all wrong?

But then I see the laughter in her eyes.

My beautiful, whiskey-colored eyes.

“You’re really going to make me say it, aren’t you?” I mutter, my lips twitching.

Olivia takes a deep breath and folds her hands in front of her like she’s interviewing to be an etiquette teacher. Her face is wiped clean of whatever amusement I glimpsed just now.

She cocks her brow as if to say,what are you here for?

My stomach turns and my palms sweat. I hand her one of my bags, and she stares at me quizzically.

“I’ve been seeing a psychiatrist—taking meds, going to therapy, doing all the work, as you like to say. It’ll be a long journey. Lots of therapy. But in one week, I’ll be completely off Velowake. We’re tapering off slowly, and while it was hard initially, things are better now. I sleep five hours most nights.”

She clutches my bag to her chest, her eyes widening. Olivia has seen me at my lowest. She’s seen my monsters and how deeply their talons are embedded in my skin.

She knows it hasn’t been an easy path.

“I still have nightmares. I still think about Mom and the what-ifs. I still regret not having done everything I could for Raya. I still reach for my half-empty bottle of Velowake, thinking if I just take one pill, I can stay awake and not live through the nightmares. But I don’t. I stop myself, and you know why?”

An urgency fills me—the need to be closer to her, to touch her, to feel her warmth against my body. I take a step toward her, and another, the pull between us unbearable.

Her chest rises and falls, but she remains quiet and still.

Slowly, I take her hand, closing my eyes as our skin touches. Euphoria washes over me from the simple contact, my nerves lighting up one by one.

“Because,” I slowly open my eyes and stare at her, “I want us to have a future together. I want, noneed, you in my life, Olive. You’re my star, my sun, my gravity. You’re the spotlight I want to stare at for the rest of my life. I love you so, so much, more than I’d ever imagined possible.”

Her slender throat works, and she rolls her lips inward, clearly becoming emotional.

I push through. “I want to be healthy for you and also for me, so we can have a long, long life together. So I can enjoy the ride with you—all the ups and downs, all the laughter, all the fights. I’ll remember them all, and while there’ll be some moments I’ll rather forget, I’ll treasure every second, because you’re with me. Because with you, everything is worth it. Every moment is precious.”

I pull out a package from the bag I’m still holding and hand it to her.

She sets down her bag and takes it. She cocks her brow.

“Open it,” I murmur.

She tears the wrapping paper and gasps when she sees the album.

A photo album, to be exact.

“You once told me you thought you were a shadow. That you blended into the background and no one saw you. But you were wrong. You shine the brightest, and I’ve always seen you.”

“Rex,” she whispers as she flips through the book, which contains all the photos from my secret stash.