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As I peer over at Genesis, who hasn’t said a word since we sat, a thick reality hits me.

I want to beat those odds.

Want to be that one man out of ten.

I want to live for her.

For us. For our future.

“Hey, Lora,”I say, knocking on her office door. “Do you have a moment?”

When I asked Genesis what she wanted to do after her father’s funeral, she told me she scheduled herself to teach at Safe Hearts. She instructed me to take her home to change, and then we made a pit stop at Brew Delights for her favorite coffee and a croissant.

Like me with the casino, Safe Hearts is her safe space.

Her escape.

Where she can go and not think about her problems.

I respect that, but I also wish she’d find anotherescape.

Ideally, a room in our home.

She can pick up any damn hobby, just do it at fucking home so I don’t have to play chaperone all the damn time.

Normally, I’d hassle her about coming to the shelter, especially when she’s done more than the agreed-upon days in our contract, but today, I’ll give her a pass.

That still doesn’t make me happy about it.

She’s putting herself in danger every time she’s at the shelter.

Not only from possible enemies of mine but also from people who want to hurt another woman here. Genesis knows this though. She’s been aware that the shelter is dangerous for years, but it’s never stopped her from coming here.

She once told me she’d rather die for a good cause than act like it didn’t exist.

I join Lora in her office, and she gestures for me to shut the door if I’d like.

I do but hesitate to sit when she motions for me to do that next.

I’m typically a stander, especially when in other people’s offices, but I don’t want to seem threatening, so I take a seat in the uncomfortable chair that was most likely made before the damn Trojan War started.

It creaks as I adjust myself in the seat, and I hope I don’t break it.

I rest my arm on the chair. “I’d like to fund additional security here.”

Call it funding, a donation—I don’t give a shit.

Concern floods her tired face. “Is there a reason we’d need additional security?”

I shake my head, trying my best to put her at ease. “I’m sure you’re aware of what Genesis’s father did. She’s received death threats, and I want to make sure she’s as safe as possible.”

It’s somewhat true.

She received three death threats.

I returned those threats to the men who’d sent them by putting bullets in their heads.

Lora adjusts her sleeves, tugging on one, thinking.