Page 89 of Code of Heart

Before he could respond, she rushed to add, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But it’d be great if you did. And, of course, your friends are welcome too…”

She shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

Levi’s intense green gaze locked on her, his mouth curving into a slow, knowing smile. “On two conditions.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, two conditions?”

That mischievous glint she was learning to both love and fear sparked in his eyes. “First, I get to pick out your dress for the event.”

That didn’t sound so bad. “Fine. What’s the second?”

His expression sobered, the teasing fading into something more serious and far more dangerous. “I get to choose the next topic of conversation. And whatever it is, you have to answer me truthfully.”

Aurelia’s heart gave a painful thud. She knew—knew—this wasn’t going to go in her favor.

Everything in her screamed to redirect the conversation, to make an awkward joke, and escape whatever he was about to ask. But the open and vulnerable look on Levi’s face held her fast.

She let out a long, resigned sigh. “Deal.”

Levi leaned back in his chair, a satisfied but unreadable smile on his face.

God help her…what had she agreed to?

Levi

There was a reason Levi was a force in business.

He knew how to negotiate, how to recognize opportunity, and most importantly, when to strike. But no amount of boardroom finesse prepared him for the guilt that curled low in his stomach as he watched the color drain from Aurelia’s face.

Still, some conversations couldn’t wait. And this one…this was too important to leave unspoken.

He didn’t ease into it or offer false comfort. He ripped the bandage off in one clean, brutal pull.

“Tell me about your past relationships,” he asked quietly. “Your exes. Why didn’t they work out?”

She stilled, her body rigid, and for one terrifying moment, Levi wondered if she had stopped breathing altogether. Her eyes were wide, haunted, and there was something else there…something that made his pulse roar in his ears. Fear.

His hands clenched into fists under the table, knuckles turning white. He forced himself to stay silent, to give her the time she needed to wrestle her thoughts free from whatever dark place she had been dragged back to.

Finally, with a shuddering breath, she slumped in her chair, the fight visibly bleeding out of her.

“I’ve…dated a few guys,” she began in a voice barely above a whisper, her eyes locked on the small candle flickering between them. “But most of them didn’t last more than a few months before they grew bored and left.”

Her throat bobbed with the effort to keep speaking, her fingers trembling as she reached for her water glass. Levi could see the way she braced herself for his judgment, for rejection.

“I was too quiet…didn’t have enough friends, not enough education. Too poor. Too boring.” Her bitter smile cut him deeper than any sharp word could have. “Take your pick. The reasons were endless.”

Levi’s jaw flexed painfully. Rage burned under his skin, but he kept his expression carefully blank. The moment he opened his mouth and let that fury loose, she would retreat…and he wasn’t letting her close that door tonight.

“Many didn’t even have the decency to say it to my face,” she continued, her voice brittle. “Some…disappeared. Ghosted me like I didn’t exist. And then, like clockwork, there’d be a new picture posted online of them with someone else. Someone better.”

She finally lifted her eyes, and Levi’s heart broke at the acceptance he saw in them. Like she truly believed she wasn’t worth staying for.

“I’m a placeholder,” she whispered. “Until someone better comes along.”

God. He couldn’t breathe past the iron band tightening around his ribs.

But Levi wasn’t finished. Not yet. He had to understand all of it—all of her—if he was ever going to show her how wrong she was.