Page 59 of Cinderella and the Daddy

"And I won't let someone use me to hurt the people I care about."

The admission hangs in the air between us. Because that's what this is really about, isn't it? Not just my violated privacy or even my anger at being manipulated. It's about Leo's safe space being invaded. It's about the way Luka's face softens when he thinks no one is watching. It's about the secret growing inside me that connects us all in ways none of us fully understand yet.

I may not have chosen to be here in the beginning, but now there's no way I'm going to let anyone use me as a weapon against the father of my child or the boy who calls me mommy.

“I need you to trust me," I say.

"Trust goes both ways."

"I know." I adjust the bag on my shoulder. "Which is why I'm telling you where I'm going instead of just disappearing. Anna wants a meeting? She'll get one. But on my terms, not hers."

He looks at me closely. Whatever he sees must convince him, because his posture shifts slightly.

"The Mustang," he says, his voice rough. "Take the Mustang."

I walk out of the bedroom. He gently grabs my arm.

"Cindy."

“Yes?”

He pulls the keys from his pocket and then hands me his gun. "Don't hesitate if you need to use it."

“I’m coming back.”

"Why are you taking a bag if you're coming back?"

The question hangs between us, loaded with everything we're not saying. I look down at the duffel in my hand—packed on autopilot, muscle memory from years of being ready to run. My throat tightens.

"I..." The truth sticks in my throat. How do I explain that taking a go-bag is hardwired into my DNA? That even though I'm choosing him, choosing this life, some part of me still expects to wake up and find it all gone?

"This might take a couple of days," I say instead, the lie tasting like ash.

His jaw clenches, a muscle jumping beneath the skin. I see the moment he decides not to push, to give me this fiction even though we both know Anna won't meet me. That this is about meneeding to feel like I have some control in a world spinning off its axis.

"If you're not back by dawn, I'll come for you." The words are a promise and a threat, delivered with the quiet intensity that makes grown men soil themselves.

"I know." I step closer, drawn by invisible threads. "I'm counting on it."

I was asking a lot of him. It’s nothing short of a miracle he’s letting me go at all.”

I lean up on my toes and press a kiss to his lips. "I know."

“Take the dog,” he says. “The mutt is useless, but he might actually protect you. God knows he’s threatened to take a bite out of me more than once.”

I offer a small smile. “If I'm not back when Leo wakes up, please give him a hug for me.”

“I will come find you.”

“I’m counting on it.”

I walk to the garage with Mac trailing behind me. He’s a little irritated at being roused from his bed, but he hops into the car. Luka pushes the button to open the garage bay door.

I look at him, wave, and drive away.

The city streets are mostly empty at this hour, just the occasional taxi or police cruiser. I drive through the familiar neighborhoods, past the apartment where I used to live, and past the garage where I learned to love engines more than people.

That life feels like it belonged to someone else now. The woman who lived in that apartment was gone. I always believed I would be okay if I just kept my head down.