Page 190 of Celestial Combat

“Trevor wouldn’t have told me otherwise. You said so yourself. He was never going to say it. Not without something forcing his hand.”

The low hum of the jet filled the silence that stretched between us, vibrating faintly through the mattress and into my bones.

I felt him.

The man I loved

The man who would rip the world apart for me.

Who’d held me while I cried.

Protected me when I couldn’t stand.

But also the man who’d played with fire tonight.

With blood.

With my trust.

“I didn’t want this…” I said, barely above a whisper.

His jaw clenched. “Neither did I.”

But we were already here.

I shook my head. “Zane… This isn’t how – ”

“I grew up in Tokyo with my mom.” His voice was gravel against the hush of the jet cabin, low and steady, carrying the weight of old scars. “Never knew who my dad was. It had always been just the two of us.”

I felt his heartrate pick up against my back.

“She was an escort. I never held it against her or judged her for it. Never cared. She did everything she could to survive and provide for us. And eventually… She got offered a better job through one of her higher-end clients.”

I closed my eyes, feeling the sting.

“One of the Bratva men that did business with my family offered your mother the nanny job?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

“Your parents must not have known her background. And that must not have been her first proper job.”

A beat of silence.

“When I was fourteen, I came home from school to find her dead in the kitchen.”

My body tensed.

“She’d been murdered hours before I found her,” He said, voice rougher now, like it hurt to remember. “I ran to the Yakuza, begging for revenge. Told them I’d do anything.”

“I’m so sorry.” I whispered, tears rolling down my face again.

He tightened his hold on me in return, grounding both of us.

“One Kumicho that had known my mother since they were kids helped me track down who the killer was. One of her old Bratva clients.”

“That did business with my family…”

“But I never found him. It’s like he disappeared into smoke.”

“What did you do?”

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