Page 110 of When Love Found Us
Then, he stops breathing.
Silence.
The earbud crackles.
“Atlas?” Sanford’s voice is sharp. “Report.”
I exhale slowly. My pulse finally settles.
“It’s done.”
The ride back is silent.
The cleaning crew arrived on time, wiping away every trace of what happened. The motel owners will get their payout for letting us occupy it—no guests, no questions. Cassian and Malerick stayed behind to tie up the last loose ends.
I don’t care.
I’m already gone.
I need to see her.
Be with her.
The moment I step into Hopper’s house, my eyes find her.
Blythe.
She’s standing in the living room, arms wrapped around herself, eyes wide and waiting.
I cross the space in three strides.
She meets me halfway.
Neither of us speaks.
I just pull her in, holding her so close, so completely that I don’t know where I end, and she begins. She trembles against me, fingers tangling behind my neck, and I kiss her—deep and consuming. Not just a meeting of lips but a claiming. A giving. Taking in everything she is while offering her everything I have left.
Her breath hitches, but she doesn’t pull away. She leans in, gives more, takes more like she needs this as much as I do. Her fingers slide up into my hair, holding tight before she lets them slip away, one by one until her hands rest on my chest.
She looks up, eyes shining.
“Is he?—”
“Gone,” I murmur, brushing my lips over her forehead. “It’s over.”
A shudder rolls through her, something deep, something final.
She exhales, and then the tears come—silent at first before a sob escapes, raw and unguarded. Not breaking. Releasing.
And me?
I bury my face in her hair, breathing her in, letting the last three months crack and crumble around me.
It’s over.
She’s safe.
Our daughter is safe.
