Page 186 of Lady and the Hitman

I stood slowly from the kitchen island, the laptop still glowing behind me. “I published it.”

“I know.”

“How?”

His mouth twitched. “Alerts.”

“You subscribed to my Substack?”

“I do more than study my targets now,” he said with a quiet laugh. “I support them.”

My eyes stung.

He stepped closer, but didn’t touch me yet. “You meant what you wrote?”

“I meant all of it.” I reached for his hand. “Especially the part where I chose you.”

His jaw flexed once. “You always had a choice, Zara.”

“I know.”

He hesitated. Then his voice dropped, low and husky. “I didn’t think I could be loved. Not like this.”

I blinked hard.

He kept going. “I’ve had loyalty. Obedience. Fear. But love? Not the kind that asks nothing. That sees everything and stays anyway.” His thumb brushed the back of my hand. “You’re the first person who ever looked at all of me and didn’t flinch.”

“I didn’t flinch,” I whispered, “because I already knew what it felt like to be seen as too much.”

His eyes locked on mine. “And you still stayed.”

“I’ll keep staying.”

He leaned in then and kissed me—soft and slow, but deep. Like it wasn’t just a kiss. Like it was a stake in the ground. When he pulled back, his mouth brushed mine as he murmured, “But you’d better sell this townhouse. It’s too small for what I have in mind.” His eyes danced with quiet mischief. “Unless you want to explain to your neighbors why I keep ruining your drywall.”

I smiled. “Want to sit with me while I call Mina?”

“I’ll make coffee,” he offered.

I hit speaker and tapped her name. She answered on the first ring.

“Zara,” Mina breathed. “Holy shit. I just read it.”

I grinned. “That good?”

“That brutal. That glorious. That real. I’m so proud of you I could weep. Also, remind me not to cross you. You cut like a scalpel.”

Ronan placed a mug in front of me and raised an eyebrow at the compliment.

“I didn’t expect it to hit like this,” I admitted. “I thought I’d feel scared.”

“You should be scared,” Mina said. “Because you just ripped off your armor and walked straight into a battlefield. But you did it on your own terms. And now? You’ve got nothing left to prove.”

I was quiet for a second. “It’s weird, you know? I spent so long building this version of me that fit all the checkboxes. The one who could be palatable enough to be respected.”

“But she was also miserable,” Mina said. “Now you’re just … you. Not flawless. But so much more powerful.”

I felt Ronan’s fingers trace the top of my spine.