Page 79 of BounBound By Scars

I stared at him, overwhelmed by how much I wanted him. Not just want.

I loved him.

So deeply that if he asked, I’d give him anything. My trust, my pain, my silence, my rage. I wanted to love him so fully that he never again questioned if he was an option.

Because he wasn’t.

He was my answer.

I set the drone down gently, like it was sacred.

Because it was.

I needed to breathe.

Because this—him—was too much. Too everything. And I didn’t know how to tell this beautiful, brilliant, maddening man that I never meant to drag him through this ridiculous rollercoaster.

But I had. And somehow, he still stood there. Still gave me this.

I stepped closer, cupping his face in both hands, brushing my thumbs against the stubble on his jaw. He froze, breath shallow, eyes wide with a kind of reverence I didn’t deserve.

“You were right,” I whispered.

His brow furrowed slightly, like he wasn’t sure what I meant.

I smiled, watery and aching. “I never had a choice, Kabir.”

His lips parted, but no words came.

“I know when people say they can’t imagine a life without someone, it sounds cliché and stupid…” I shook my head, tears threatening. “But Kabir… I can’t imagine a singlesecondwithout you. You’re my unshaken foundation. My everything.”

I pressed one hand to my chest. “You’ve always been in here.”

Then I touched my temple. “And in here.”

I leaned in, forehead almost brushing his. “And you’re never getting out. Because I’m not giving you a choice either.”

His eyes filled, and his breath caught audibly.

“You chose me, huh?” he rasped, voice cracking.

I nodded, biting my lip through the rush of emotion.

He let out a tearful laugh, pulling me tighter. “There wasn’t a choice,Heeriye.”

I laughed through the lump in my throat because he’d trapped me—in more ways than one.

“There was!” I laughed along with him.

His hand slid to the back of my neck, eyes gleaming.

I added. “A guy who liked me—”

“—and a man who fucking loves you,” he finished, voice low and rough.

His gaze didn’t falter. It burned straight into me.

“Amelia Desmond,” he whispered, lips brushing mine, “you’re the love of my life.”