“Okay.” The word sounds rough, but so are my emotions.
She smiles. “You can also have the warehouse back. And the cars. I don’t want them.”
I think of how I watched her start for the gas can in her anger and pain. “You were going to burn it down.”
She nods. “So let’s agree that you need to take it all back.”
“If lighting this entire place up was going to make you feel better for even a second, I would’ve let you.”
Her smile disappears. “It wouldn’t have made me feel any better. Probably worse.”
“I know, princess. That’s why I stopped you.”
Her eyebrows go up. “Not because you wanted to save the cars?”
“They don’t mean a damn thing compared to you.”
Her face softens, and she leans against me once more.
“How about I make you a deal? I keep the cars here, and you and I both work here. But when you’re done, we go back to your apartment at night.”
Temperance’s eyes go wide. “You’d do that?”
“Mount’s the only person who knows I was the one who shot your brother. The witnesses would describe the disguise.”
“Yes. Good.”
“And even if that weren’t the case, I’d find a way to make it work. Because, apparently, you haven’t gotten the message yet that I’d do anything for you.”
She presses a kiss to my chest. “Thank you.”
“But I need you to do one thing for me.”
“What’s that?” she asks, once again finding my gaze.
“Tell me you love me again.”
When she said those words, it felt like my heart was going to explode. No one has told me they love me in over fifteen years, and to get those words from Temperance, with all the promise in her eyes, was a miracle.
“I love you, Kane ...” Her lips flatten as she trails off.
“What?”
“I don’t know your real last name. Can I know it?”
Only two people know that Kane Savage is still alive, and giving that information to Temperance is also handing her the keys to bringing down everything I’ve built.
Considering I’d hand her a gun to put a bullet in my head if she asked, it’s not a tough question to answer.
“Savage. Kane Savage.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Seriously?”
I nod.
“Your name is Savage?”
“Formerly Sergeant Kane Savage of the United States Army.”