Page 244 of Before Dawn

Relief flooded me, and I leaned into him, tears slipping down my cheeks.

“Thank you for not thinking less of me,” I whispered.

His eyes held mine, steady and sure. “I could never think less of you. You mean everything to me. He filmed you without your knowledge—that’s a crime, and he’s currently paying for it. None of this is your fault, so don’t ever believe it is.”

I took a shaky breath, ready to respond, but then my gaze dropped to his hands. My heart twisted at the sight of his bruised and swollen knuckles. I reached for them, fingertips tracing the damage.

“Your knuckles…”

He pulled his hand back slightly, shaking his head. “It’ll be fine,” he said, brushing it off, though the tension in his eyes betrayed him. “I’ve felt worse.”

I held his gaze, unwilling to let it go. “How?” I asked, though deep down, I already knew.

He sighed, looking away for a beat before turning back. “I punched him a few times,” he admitted, voice low as if downplaying what really happened.

A laugh bubbled up before I could stop it. It surprised both of us, but the thought of Mikkel finally giving that asshole what he deserved was too satisfying. Shaking my head, I let out a small, wry smile. “Nothing he didn’t deserve.”

A faint smirk tugged at Mikkel’s lips. “Exactly.”

I walked to the bathroom, grabbed the first aid kit, and returned to find him sitting on the couch, his injured hand resting on his thigh, eyes fixed on me. Kneeling in front of him, I set the kit on the table and gently took his hand.

“Let me take care of it,” I murmured, cleaning the cuts and wrapping his knuckles. He didn’t protest, just watched me in silence.

When I finished, my fingers lingered against his skin, my chest tightening with gratitude. The bruises, the blood—he’d taken them for me. My hands trembled slightly as the weight of it all settled in.

“Thank you,” I whispered, though it felt like nowhere near enough.

Mikkel’s gaze softened. “When I say I’ll protect you, I mean it, Red.”

I swallowed hard, emotion thick in my throat. “Lo sé. Te quiero.203” The words left me instinctively, feeling right.

His brows lifted, surprise flickering across his face before his expression melted into something warmer. “You speaking Spanish is my new favorite thing.”

I chuckled, trying to lighten the air. “We have Duolingo to thank, then.”

His smile grew despite the exhaustion in his eyes. “I’m gonna have to send them a check.Te escucho hablar español y me vuelvo loco,204” he teased, though there was a serious edgeto his tone.

He cupped my face, his thumb brushing my cheek, making my heart stutter. “I love you.”

His words wrapped around me, sinking deep.

I loved him with every fiber of my being.

Every part of me was his, just as every piece of him belonged to me.

Chapter Sixty

Mikkel

“Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”

~ Robert Frost

Life felt right when she was with me. It wasn’t all smiles or easy days, but that was never what I thought of as “perfect.” Perfect never meant a life without storms; it meant that in every life I could live, in every reality that could exist, it would begin and end with her. She wasmi constante, mi cada camino y mi siempre.205

I loved her in every way a woman could be loved—like a whispered secret in the dark, like sunlight catching in her copper platinum hair. I loved her in breaths and in silences, in laughter that lingered and in the quiet ache of longing. I loved her with a fierce tenderness, inevery glance, in every touch, in all the ways language failed but the heart remembered. She was my dawn and my dusk, and I loved her endlessly, as though it was the only thing I was ever meant to do.

After everything, I made sure she had weekly at-home sessions with Dr. Green, and as manyBeauty and the Beastrewatches as she wanted. Slowly, I saw her come back to herself, that spark in her eyes reigniting.

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