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“Bella—”

I reached for her just as the tears broke free, catching her before she could pull away.

“Maybe you didn’t hear me. I’m doing it,” she said through the sob building in her throat. “No one is going to stop me.”

The sight and sound of her breaking cut straight through me. I’d seen her shaken before. Angry and guarded. Hell, I’d seen her distance herself in ways that made it hard to reach her. But this?

This was different. Her composure splintered right in front of me, shoulders caving as another breath tore through her, uneven and sharp. It gutted me to watch my girl this way. It stung knowing there wasn’t a single thing I could do to erase what put that look in her eyes.

“Princess, please don’t cry. It kills me.”

She collapsed into me, forehead pressing against my chest, her body trembling in a way she couldn’t hide even if she tried.

“I need you beside me when I walk through those doors, Lev.”

The words were nothing more than a whisper, but I carried the weight of them. I had a thousand and one questions. What was she really asking? Was the place even still standing, and could we get access to it? Deeper ones rolled around in my head.

How deeply was going back there going to trigger her? Was I capable of handling the outcome? I wasn’t a professional like Marcel. Wouldn’t he be a better candidate?

She chose you.

The fear hit me square in the heart. My hand came up, settling at the back of her head, fingers threading into her hair as I held her tight. Carefully, I lifted her legs and had her straddle me.

“I’ll be there,” I said, the promise locking into place. “However you need me. Whatever it takes.”

I eased back just enough to look at her, my hand still steady at her neck, keeping her close without forcing her to stay.

“You don’t have to do this alone. Not now. Not ever. I’m yours in this. Hell, I’m yours in every way.”

And I meant it. My thumb brushed along her jaw, catching one of the tears before it could fall. There was no sense in hiding or waiting any longer. She needed to know how I felt about her. The words tumbled out in a rush of emotion.

“I love you, Isabella. More than anything that came before. More than anything that will ever come after. There isn’t a version of this where I don’t show up for you. Where I don’t hold space for you. You are my everything.”

Her breath stuttered, the earlier fear shifting as the words reached into her soul and took up residence. The tension in her shoulders eased instantly, her grip loosening on my shirt before she let out a shaky exhale.

Relief flickered across her face, fragile but there. I pulled her back into me without thinking, one arm tightening around her while the other slid up her back to cradle her. She stayed there for a moment, letting me hold her through it.

“There’s… there’s more. So much more I need to tell you. I know I have to. I made a promise to Marcel that I would….” Her fingers curled into the fabric at my side again, as if she were bracing for what was to come.

I took comfort in the fact that Marcel was aware that she was asking me. But what about the rest of the guys? Damn, what about the girls?

We could explore those questions later. For now, I didn’t push or rush. I just kept my hold on her, one hand moving in slow, grounding passes along her back while I rested my chin lightly against the top of her head.

“I’m here. Take your time.”

The ocean filled the silence again, steady and endless, and I stayed right there with her, letting the moment stretch as long as she needed it to.

“May I share some of my past with you?”

“Absolutely. I’m ready to hear whatever you want to share, princess.”

Reluctantly she climbed off my lap, and once she was settled beside me, she spoke. “The one thing Sonny was looking forward to was me becoming a woman.”

I did my best to mask my face from the disgust rising within me.

“Somehow, he rationalized any age prior to a girl getting her menstrual cycle was a child and any age after, a woman. I was twelve, if that helps.”

I fought back a shudder of revulsion. What the hell?