Page 113 of The Beast

He goes very still.

“Is that what you think?” His voice is low. Dark.

Dangerous.

“You really think I’m one bad decision away from losing myself completely?”

I force myself to hold his gaze. “I think you’re standing on the edge of something you can’t come back from. And I think my father knows exactly how to push you over.” I step closer, then take his face in my hands so he has no choice but to look at me. “This is what he wants, Gabriel. He wants you to come after him. He wants you to give him an excuse to put you down for good. Don’t give him that. Don’t let him win.”

For a long moment, Gabriel just stares at me, the beast prowling behind his eyes, hungry and restless.

Then something shifts. Not surrender—nothing that simple. But a crack in the armor. A moment of doubt.

“Day by day,” I whisper. “That’s what we said. Day by day.”

His jaw tightens. “Day by day doesn’t feel like enough right now.”

“I know. But it’s what we’ve got.” I press my forehead to his. “Stay with me. Please. Whatever we do next, we do it together. Not from rage. Not from fear. Together.”

The silence stretches between us, heavy with everything he’s not saying.

“Together,” he finally agrees.

But the beast is still there, watching and waiting. And I don’t know how long together will be enough to keep it at bay.