Page 145 of Unhinged

“Don’t knock it til you try it.”

We’re trying and testing—my snark and his sarcasm—but it feels tired and heavy. Uncertain.

I sigh. “If I try to leave again, will you really chase me?”

“Chase you?” His voice drops, low and calm. “I’d burn the fucking world to the ground to find you.”

My chest aches, my eyes sting, and my nose tingles.

Ibelievehim. That’s the problem. And worse? I want him to mean it.

I should walk away. I should fight him again, tell him no one gets to chain me. But instead, I lean in.

I press my forehead to his chest, letting myself breathe in his scent. “This is complicated,” I whisper.

His arms tighten like steel bands. “Doesn’t have to be.”

For a moment, the world stops spinning, and it’s just…us.No Bratva. No Irish. No escape routes and betrayal, no demand to be any more than we are.

His hand slides beneath the hem of my shirt, resting on bare skin. The rough, warm feel of his palm sends a calm through me.

Maybe he’s right.

Maybe it doesn’t have to be complicated.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. He doesn’t ask me for what.

I’m sorry your family sucks.

I’m sorry mine does too.

I’m sorry I’m broken.

I’m sorry you are too.

“Me too,” he finally whispers back. His hand isn’t gentle or cruel, just certain, branded heat, his words against my ear. “You can’t run, Anissa. Because I willalwaysfucking find you.”

I close my eyes because I realize then—Iwanthim to.

“Our families are fucked up.”

“Yeah.” The sun has set, but we haven’t turned any lights on. Sometimes, it’s easier to face the truth in the dark. “We’ll make our own family. We can, you know.”

I swallow hard, still leaning against him, still relishing the certain feel of his palm against my back.

“We can…what?”

“Do better. Break the chain.”

I can’t help but smile. “Break the cycle of generational trauma with therapy and positive life choices?”

“Jesus,” he says with a grimace. “I wouldn’t gothatfar. You do know who I am, don’t you?”

I’m deflecting, as usual, joking even though I know there’s an undercurrent of truth.

Break the chain.

Yeah. I like that.

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