Page 108 of Made for Sinners

Because I couldn’t.

Not now.

Not ever.

When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard, our foreheads pressed together, the space between us charged and electric.

“I’m sorry,” I said, the words rough and low against her mouth.

She blinked, her brows drawing together. “For what?”

“For not seeing it sooner. For not protecting you from him. For not believing you.”

Her fingers brushed my jaw, soft and tentative. “You believe me now.”

I nodded, my voice thick. “Yeah. I do.”

She exhaled slowly, her breath ghosting across my lips. “Then that’s all that matters.”

I wanted to say more. I wanted to tell her that I’d burn the world down for her. That I’d tear Rocco apart with my bare hands. That I’d never let anyone use her again. But the words got stuck somewhere in my throat, tangled up in the weight of everything we’d just uncovered.

So I kissed her again instead.

Softer this time.

Slower.

Like a promise.

When I pulled back, her eyes were still closed, her lips swollen, her breath shallow.

“We’ll go home,” I said, my voice low. “We’ll go home, and tomorrow, I’ll start pulling every thread. Rocco won’t see it coming.”

She opened her eyes, and there was something fierce in them now. Something sharp.

“I want to help.”

I stared at her.

“You already have,” I said. “You saw him when no one else did. You remembered. You put the pieces together.”

“That’s not enough,” she said. “I want to be there when it happens. When you confront him. When he realizes he’s not invisible anymore.”

I studied her for a long moment, the fire in her eyes, the set of her jaw. She wasn’t asking for permission. She was telling me.

And I’d be a fool to deny her.

“Okay,” I said. “You’ll be there.”

She nodded, her fingers still tangled in my jacket.

The car turned a corner, the city lights flickering through the windows like stars falling sideways. The world outside kept moving, oblivious to the storm we were about to unleash.

But inside the car, it was just us.

Her hand in mine.

My heart pounding like a war drum.

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