Page 177 of The Bratva King

He wakes up in the middle of the night, heart racing and sweating. He told me he keeps seeing Luke in that corner. His first thought was Luke was hurt… or worse. I’m glad it was him who saw it. I don’t know if I would ever let Luke out of my sight if I had that memory burned in my brain.

I still check on him three times a night. Still panic when I can’t see him immediately. Still feel my throat close when I remember the moment in the parking lot when Nik told me he was gone.

“Can’t sleep?” he asks.

I turn in his arms so I’m facing him. In the darkness, I can just make out the sharp lines of his face. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yes.”

“My old life. My real name. Does it bother you?”

He’s quiet for a moment. His thumb traces slow circles on my arm. “No.”

“I want you to know I would never betray you,” I tell him. “What I did to them was done for survival. Matteo would have killed me. I don’t want to think about what he would have done to a child.”

“I don’t care who you were before. I care who you are now. I trust you.”

That’s a relief. “I trust you.”

“I will never hurt you, Gabriella. I will never raise my hand to you. I will never make you afraid.” He pauses. “I know I can’t always say the right things. I don’t know how to express feelings the way other people do. But I need you to know that I love you. That’s a feeling I know is real. And I will love you for the rest of my life.”

My eyes fill with tears, and I press my forehead to his. “I know. I see it in everything you do.” I kiss him softly. “You don’t have to say the words all the time, Nik. I feel it.”

His arms tighten around me. “I need you to always know how much I love you.”

“I love you.” I pull back slightly. “I’ve been thinking about something else.”

“What?”

“My hair.” I run my fingers through the blonde strands. “I want to go back to my natural color. I’m tired of hiding. Tired of being someone I’m not.”

He studies my face in the darkness. “Dark brown?”

“Almost black.”

“I want to see it.”

“Yeah?”

“I want to see the real you, Gabriella.” He says my full name like he’s testing it out. “I want all of you. No more hiding.”

Relief floods through me. I didn’t realize how much I needed his acceptance until this moment. Not because he controls me, but because I need to know he wants all of me. Even the parts I’ve been trying to erase.

“Tomorrow,” I say. “I’ll do it tomorrow.”

“Good.”

We lie there in the quiet, wrapped around each other.

“Nik?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you for giving us a home.”

“This is your home. You and Luke belong here.”

“Nik?”