“You think we could get a moment?” Ronan gestured toward me. “I need a moment with my wife.”
Megan looked at me. “Laney?”
I took a deep breath. Then another for good measure. Okay. I could do this.
Then I took an extra step away from Ronan just to put some space between us. “Megan stays. Ronan, what are you doing here?”
For the first time since I’d met him, he looked legitimately helpless.
Part of me didn’t blame him. Roman was used to being the quickest person in the room, and subsequently, used to being able to manipulate various situations using his wit or even minor alter egos.
Right now, he had nowhere to hide.
“I—” He glanced between Megan and me nervously. “I came here to say?—”
I didn’t look away, even with the emotions roiling inside me. “To say what?”
His eyes found mine again with an expression that was straight as an arrow. “I love you.”
Bullseye.
He knew it too as he went on, steadfast and sure. “I’m here because I’m so fucking in love with you, Laney, that nothing else matters. Not my family. Not their company. Certainly not any of my father’s Machiavellian bullshit. You, Ari, are all that matters to me.”
“Ohhh.” Megan’s hand covered her mouth.
I could certainly feel my own resolve cracking as another round of tears pricked my eyes. “I—how do I know that’s even true? How can I trust you after what you did?”
He grabbed my hand before I could move farther away, begging me to keep looking at him. “Because you know me, Laney Fisher. Better than anyone else. You see who I am when I’m not forced to be one of Niall Black’s sons or Blackguard’s dirty henchman. You give me the freedom to tell the truth, and I swear to God, Laney, I have never lied to you about how I feel, not once. Even before I admitted it to myself, I was always in this. I only ever wanted you.”
By this point, I couldn’t stop the tears from sliding down my cheeks. It was different from before. These weren’t the harsh,painful sobs that robbed me of speech after years of pent-up pain. This was a different kind of emotion, born of passion and yearning and, yes, if I was telling the truth too, love.
“Please, Ari.”
Megan and I both sucked in harsh breaths as he lowered to one knee, then the other.
“Oh, Laney,” she murmured.
Neither Ronan nor I looked at her. We could only see each other.
“I’ll do anything,” he whispered. “I’m on my knees. I’m here for one reason only—to beg my wife for a second chance to make her happy. Please let me love you. Please let me try.”
Maybe I should have said no. Stuck to my guns and forced him out. Broken both our hearts all over again.
But there’s a reason they say the truth sets you free. I felt Ronan’s truth in every word, just as I felt my own thrumming on a cellular level.
He loved me.
And I loved him too.
In a way, that made the idea of trying again that much more terrifying because now there was so much more to lose. But I could do it. If I could just be brave enough to try.
I opened my mouth to tell him. “Ronan, I?—”
Three hard knocks on the door made everyone in the room jump.
“Seattle Police,” a voice called. “We have a warrant.”
The blood drained from my face as I looked back at Ronan. “I didn’t—I swear, Ronan, I didn’t say anything?—”