PART 10:

Maybe eventually, but it would take years and it would be dangerous. You don’t just walk away from this life, Olivia. There are people who would see it as weakness, who would move against me. “So, we’re trapped,” I said, feeling despair creep in. “You can’t leave, and I can’t fully stay.” “No.

” He grabbed my shoulders, forced me to look at him. We’re not trapped. We’re figuring it out together. You and me, Olivia. We’ll find a way to make this work because the alternative, not having you in my life, that’s not an option I’m willing to consider. Christian, I love you, he said, and the words hit me like a physical blow.

I’ve loved you for so long, I don’t remember what it feels like not to love you. And I know my world is dark and violent. and everything you probably dreamed you’d never be part of. But you’re my light, Olivia. You’re the one good, pure thing in my life. And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you. Tears were streaming down my face now.

Promise me something. Anything. Promise me you’ll try. Try to find a way out eventually. Try to build something legitimate we can both be proud of. I’m not asking for it to happen overnight, but I need to know we’re working towards something better. He pulled me close, buried his face in my damp hair. I promise I’ll start looking at exit strategies at ways to transition the business into something legal.

It’ll take time, but I’ll do it for you, for us. I held him tight, feeling the solid reality of him, the warmth and strength and surprising gentleness. This was my choice. This was the man I was choosing. Complicated, dangerous, morally gray, but mine. I’m scared, I admitted. Me, too, he said.

But I’d rather be scared with you than safe without you. We stood there for a long moment holding each other, making silent promises for a future that was uncertain and difficult and absolutely worth fighting for. “So what now?” I finally asked. Christian pulled back, wiped the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. “Now I take the day off, which I never do, and we spend it together.

We order too much food, we stay in bed, we talk about everything and nothing. We figure out the logistics of this relationship, set boundaries, make plans, and tonight I take you to dinner at the best restaurant in the city and show you off to anyone who’s watching. You want to go public with this? I asked surprised.

I want everyone to know you’re mine, he said firmly. I want there to be no confusion, no question. Olivia Knox belongs to Christian Lombardo, and anyone who touches her answers to me. The possessiveness should have bothered me. Instead, it made me feel safe, protected, claimed in a way that was both primal and strangely romantic. Okay, I said.

Okay, Christian, let’s do this. Let’s figure out how to make this impossible thing work. His smile was brilliant. You won’t regret it. I’ll make sure of it. I already don’t regret it, I said, and realized it was true. Whatever challenges lay ahead, whatever compromises I’d have to make, being with Christian felt right in a way nothing else ever had.

He kissed me then, slow and deep and full of promise. And I let myself fall into it. Let myself believe that maybe love really could conquer all. Even the distance between his dark world and my light one, even the impossible. Three months later, I stood in Christian’s office, our office now, reviewing the contracts that had started everything.

But these contracts were different. These were for legitimate businesses, legal ventures, the first steps in Christian’s transition away from the darkness. It was slowgoing, painfully slow. But he was keeping his promise, dismantling the illegal operations piece by piece, building something clean in their place. It was dangerous work.

There had been threats, attempts at sabotage, whispers that Christian Lombardo was going soft. But he weathered it all, protected me through all of it, never once making me feel like I was a burden or a weakness. Instead, he treated me like I was his strength. His reason for fighting towards something better. “You’re thinking too hard again,” Christian said from behind me, his arms sliding around my waist, his chin resting on my shoulder.

“I can practically hear the gears turning in your head.” “Just reviewing these contracts for the restaurant chain,” I said, leaning back into his warmth. “They look good, Christian. Really good. legitimate, profitable, clean. All thanks to you, he murmured against my neck. You’re the one who found the investors, negotiated the terms, made this possible.

It was true. In the past 3 months, I’d transition from secretary to partner, using my business degree that I’d never thought would matter in Christian’s world. Turned out going legitimate required someone who understood legitimate business and Christian trusted me to guide him through it. We still had a long way to go.

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