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“I love you, Lucie. With everything I am. To my dying breath. I love you. I’m in love with you. How much longer are you going to make me grovel?”

“Three and a half weeks.”

It’s fair. I deserve that. But then she rises up on her toes and slides her hands around my neck, grinning. “I love you, too, Frank.”

“Ah, Christ. Frank. I forgot Frank. Frank and fucking Joy.”

And incredibly, she laughs. It’s mixed with a sob, but her eyes sparkle, brimming with happiness. It fills me with hope for the future. Our future. She can control me with a look. A word. I’ll burn the world down to keep her safe. She’s mine.

“I love you, Callahan. You’re everything.”

I kiss her again as something bounds into the room. I look down as a tail hits me. “Hey, Arnold. Hey, cat.”

And she touches my face. My love. My life.

So I tell her words of real love she can understand.

“Clawzilla stays.”

My Lucie bursts into tears and hugs me tight, and this is it. The real beginning.

A new empire to build, made up of me and Lucie.

And a dog and a cat.

I can’t fucking wait.