Page 199 of Legacy

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Feel the roughness of his palm, the solid weight of it folding around mine.

It steadies me. Grounds me.

But it doesn’t cage me.

Not anymore.

This time, it’s me leading him.

Me choosing the next step.

Inside, there are questions Scarlet needs to ask him.

Wounds she needs to uncover, even if they bleed.

Because once Scarlet knows the truth,

Adriana can heal.

And for the first time in a long time,

I want to heal.

Not just survive.

Chapter 35

Angelo

Her hands wrap around mine like a memory I was too afraid to wish for.

Not tentative. Not distant.

But real.

Her hand tugs at mine.

The smallest pull—and it undoes me.

So soft.

I run my thumb along her knuckles, slow and deliberate, memorizing the texture of her skin.

When was the last time I thought I’d get this?

This impossible grace.

Her touch is clarity.

Like fragmented pieces of forgiveness being stitched back together against my bones.

Scarlet.

The taste of that name on my tongue is like mercy to a man like me.

A man who has been dying of thirst.

Barred from even the essence of that name.

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