She glanced back toward the restaurant then up at me again. “I wish we could just skip to that part.”
“What part?”
“The house. Michigan. All of it.” Her palm rested higher against my chest. “I’d move in tonight if it were possible.”
I drew her closer without thinking. “Careful. I might hold you to that.”
Her smile softened, but she didn’t pull away.
Standing there with her in the quiet parking lot, the future didn’t feel distant anymore. It felt like the first step had already happened. And the thought clicked into place with a certainty that surprised even me.
It felt like the first night of the rest of our lives had just started.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, her warmth fitting against me the way it always did.
“Michigan feels real now.” She smiled up at me.
“It is.”
Her thumb brushed along the edge of my jaw. “You deserve a life outside everything happening in this town.”
I leaned down and kissed her. Slow and unhurried, like there was nowhere else I needed to be.
Her hands curved around the back of my neck as she leaned into me, and for a moment, the diner lights and the parking lot and the entire town disappeared.
When we pulled apart, her forehead rested lightly against mine. “You’re going to do amazing things there,” she whispered.
“Not without you.”
Her breath warmed my cheek. “Good.” She laughed softly.
I walked her to her car and waited until she pulled out of the lot before I headed toward mine. The night felt quieter than it had in weeks. Until I glanced at a message on my phone from Marcus:Documents delivered to Nick. You’re solid.I’d expect something to come of it soon.
Back home, the investigation hadn’t slowed down. If anything, it had intensified. Lawyers came and went from my father’s study at all hours, their cars lining the drive long after the rest of the house had gone quiet.
Drew had started sitting at the head of those meetings more often than my father, listening more than he spoke while the attorneys argued over financial records and offshore accounts that had existed long before I understood what King Enterprises actually did.
At first I assumed my father would take control of everything himself. Lorne had been his business partner for decades.Whatever mess the investigation uncovered should have landed squarely on his desk.
But that wasn’t what happened.
Instead, Drew handled most of the conversations about Lorne and whatever legal fallout followed his arrest, while my father focused on keeping the company itself moving forward. The separation felt deliberate, though I couldn’t tell whose decision it had been.
Drew had always deserved more authority inside King Enterprises than he’d been given. For the first time since I could remember, it looked like my father might actually be letting him have it.
Then again, the two of them were rarely in the same room long enough for me to know for sure.
Watching it unfold felt strange. The house I’d grown up in had always revolved around my father’s authority. Every room bent around his decisions.
Now the balance inside those walls had started to shift, almost quietly, as if the foundation of the place had cracked somewhere deep enough that no one could pretend it hadn’t.
That war was still happening. But standing there in the empty parking lot after Mila’s headlights disappeared down the road, something locked into place.
The future waiting for me didn’t depend on what happened inside those walls anymore. It depended on the life I was building outside of them. With Mila at the center of everything, the future felt solid.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
LUKE