My jaw tightened again, the tension settling deep instead of rising.
“You’re right,” I said.
Her breath hitched. Her gaze dropped for a second—just a second—before snapping back up to mine. Everything in her face shifted into fear.
I felt it.
Understood it.
Didn’t step back from it.
“We’ll get through this,” I sighed, tucking her small frame into my side.
She shook her head against me. “You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“You don’t?—”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The wind picked up, sharp and cold, tugging at her hair, at her coat, at the edges of everything we were standing in.
“I just—” her voice broke slightly, the control slipping again. “I needed a second. I needed to think. I needed?—”
“I know.”
Her hands came up then, pressing briefly against her face before dropping again, frustration bleeding through the movement. “This changes everything,” she whined.
“Yes.”
“No—” she shook her head again, sharper now. “You don’t understand—this doesn’t just affect me. My job. Theteam. Your career—everything we’ve been managing—this blows all of it up.”
I held her there.
Let her say it.
Let her lay it out the way she needed to.
Then—“We’ll handle that too.”
Her eyes snapped back to mine, something almost incredulous flashing through them. “You can’t just say that.”
“I’m not just saying it.”
“You are.”
“No,” I said, my voice steady, unmoved. “I’m deciding it.”
Her breathing slowed, not steady, but less fractured than it had been seconds ago.
Her gaze dropped again, this time lingering, her hand drifting back toward her stomach without fully touching it.
Then she looked back up at me. “Do you promise?”
“Yes.”
CHAPTER 25