Page 120 of Grim

“I know.”

“I just… I don’t know how to need someone.”

Grim’s breath caught.

“You don’t have to know,” he said softly. “Just let me be here.”

Sophia stepped closer, one small, hesitant step.

Then another.

She stopped in front of him, her hands trembling.

“Don’t leave,” she whispered.

Grim’s heart stuttered.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, voice low and certain. “Not unless you tell me to.”

Sophia exhaled shakily.

And for the first time since he’d carried her out of that cage, she reached for him first.

Chapter 39

Grim

Grim heard the phone call before he understood the words.

Sophia stood in the kitchen, sunlight catching the strands of her hair, phone pressed to her ear. Her abuela’s voice carried through the speaker, sharp, commanding, impossible to ignore. It wasn’t a request. It was a summons.

When Sophia hung up, she turned toward him. Grim sat on her couch, elbows on his knees, boots planted on the floor, trying to look steady even though something inside him had just dropped.

Sophia swallowed. “Abuela… wants us to come over tonight.”

Grim didn’t move. Didn’t blink. “Your whole family?”

“Yeah.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. He looked away, throat tightening. “They’re not gonna like me.”

Sophia crossed the room and cupped his face, her palms warm against his skin. “They’ll love you.”

He wanted to believe her. He didn’t.

But he nodded anyway.

“For you.”

Abuela’s house was loud before they even reached the porch.

Laughter spilled through the open windows. Pots clattered. Someone shouted in rapid Spanish. Music drifted through the air, bright, warm, alive. The smell of cumin, garlic, and tomatoes simmering on the stove wrapped around Grim like a blanket he didn’t know how to hold.

Sophia squeezed his hand. Grim squeezed back, but his palm was damp.

Inside, the entire Martinez family turned toward them at once.

Her mother froze mid-stir, wooden spoon suspended in the air. Her father’s brows shot up. Her three brothers straightened like they were preparing for a fight.