Page 109 of Cruel Juliet

Or at least, it wasn’t. Maybe things really have changed.

I reach up and touch his chest. “You don’t have to thank me,” I whisper. “You’ve given me things, too.”

His brow lifts. “Like what?”

“A life that doesn’t feel like I’m running anymore.”

For so long, survival was all I knew. Every day was about staying ahead of danger, not letting myself be seen. Living under a name that wasn’t mine.

And now, somehow, I’m here. I’ve built something. Even if it started as a cage, it doesn’t feel like one anymore.

It feels like home.

Petyr doesn’t say anything. Speeches were never his specialty, after all. He just exhales slowly and pulls me closer.

I can feel his lips press into my hair. It’s not a kiss, not exactly. More like a promise he doesn’t know how to put into words.

But that’s okay. He doesn’t need to. I can hear everything he’s trying to tell me.

My hand rests on his chest, his heartbeat steady beneath my palm. I think about everything that’s brought us here: the lies, the fights. The way we tried to destroy each other before we started trying to heal each other.

I don’t know what comes next. If we’ll ever have a normal life.

But for the first time, I’m not afraid of tomorrow.

“Is there anything you want?” Petyr asks a little while later. “Anything at all.”

I blink at him. “What do you mean?”

He shrugs, leaning back against the headboard. “You never ask for anything. I want to give you something. So, tell me. What do you want?”

I laugh softly. “You already give me everything.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Everything?”

“Pretty much,” I say with a smile. “You make sure I have my own money. That I can make my own choices without having to ask. You treat me like…” I pause and search for the right word. “Like your equal.”

“Youaremy equal.”

That simple answer makes my chest ache. For a man who’s spent his whole life commanding others, he sounds like he means it.

“I never thought I’d have this,” I admit quietly. “A home. A family. Someone who doesn’t make me feel like I’m one wrong move away from losing everything.”

He watches me closely. “Then there’s nothing else?”

I hesitate.

I have everything I want. It’s true. Ido.

But there’s an empty space in my heart that’s been there since I was twelve. I’ve learned to heal around it, build my life away from it. And yet, I can still feel it. That hole where something used to be.

No—someone.

“There is one thing,” I admit quietly.

“Tell me.”

I follow the ink on his arm with my fingertip, stalling for time. “My sister. Lara. Sometimes, I still think about her.”