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CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

THE WOOD CREAKED beneath our feet as we walked out onto the dock, the morning sun spilling gold across the water. The air smelled like salt and fresh earth, and I breathed it in deep.

Lucy didn’t speak right away. She just sat down, legs dangling over the edge, her boots untied and swinging. I sat slower, careful, the way I always moved now, but it didn’t hurt as much anymore. Not outside.

Inside... that was different.

“You look lighter,” she said after a moment, giving me a sideways glance. Her lips curved, that knowing smirk just barely there. “Did something happen last night?”

My cheeks warmed instantly. I turned my face to the water, watching the way the ripples caught the sun like a mirror trying to blind me.

I nodded. “Yes.” My voice was quiet, soft, remembering. “Something happened.”

She waited. Didn’t press. Lucy never did. She just gave me the space, the silence, the understanding.

“I thought I would be afraid,” I said, my fingers twisting the hem of my sweater. “That... when it came time, I would freeze. That my body would remember before my heart could feel.”

Lucy’s expression shifted, the humor fading. She reached over and rested her hand on mine.

“But I wasn’t,” I whispered. “With him... I wasn’t scared.”

Her thumb brushed over my knuckles. “Mystic cares about you.”

I smiled, the kind that felt like it lived in my chest and not just on my lips. “Yes. He does.”

I looked up at the trees, then down at the shimmer on the water, trying to find the words in between the noise in my head. “He touched me like I wasn’t broken. Like I was... sacred. And for the first time, Lucy, I... I wanted to feel it. I let myself feel everything.”

She blinked, her eyes softening as they filled with tears she wouldn’t let fall.

I laughed, just a little, shaking my head. “The first time was not... fast, or wild. It was slow. Like he was memorizing me. Every imperfection. Every breath.” I sighed, gazing into the treeline. “The second time was faster, rougher, his need for me raw.”

“And you let him?”

“Yes, I wanted it.” I looked at her then, really looked. “I didn’t just survive having sex with a man. I lived it. For the first time in years, I was not just a body being used. I was... a woman. Wanted. Held. Pleasured.”

She swallowed hard and pulled me into a side hug, her voice rough. “You deserve that. Every damn second of it.”

“I was afraid the past would follow me there... into his bed. Into that moment. But it didn’t. Not even a shadow.”

“He’s a good man,” she said.

I nodded. “Better than I thought any man could be. And now I’m scared... not of him, but of how much I already need him.”

Lucy leaned her head on my shoulder. “That’s love, babe. Or the start of it.”

I closed my eyes, the breeze tugging gently at my hair, and whispered, “Then I hope it lasts. Because I think he’s the only place I’ve ever felt completely human since I was sixteen.”

I rested my head against Lucy’s for a moment, feeling the peace stretch between us. It was rare. This quiet. This stillness.

But it never lasted long.

She pulled back gently, eyes scanning the treeline like she could feel the shift in the air before I did.

Her voice dropped a little. “You know Drago’s not done with you.”

My body tensed, just slightly, like an old bruise catching the edge of a table.

“I know,” I said softly.

She looked at me then. No softness now—just truth. “He’s still obsessed, Zeynep. You were his possession. His prize. And men like him don’t let go. Not ever.”

I nodded, the weight of her words sinking in like stones. “He never loved me. He just... owned me.”

Lucy’s jaw clenched. “And now he’s pissed he lost what he thought was his. And if he finds out you’re with someone else?” She shook her head. “He’ll go straight to war.”

My stomach turned, but I kept my voice steady. “Mystic is not afraid of him.”

“Maybe not,” she said. “But I’ve seen what Drago does when he’s angry. When he’s jealous.” She turned to face me fully. “He won’t just come for you, Zeynep. He’ll go through everyone in his way. Fang too. That sick bastard would love an excuse to hurt more people.”

I swallowed, eyes drifting back to the water. “I don’t want anyone else to pay for what I ran from.”

“You didn’t run,” Lucy said fiercely. “You escaped. You survived. And you’re not responsible for the storm they’ll bring. They chose that life. You didn’t.”

“I just don’t know how long I can hide,” I murmured. “And now that I’ve had this—this one good night—I don’t want to lose it.”

She reached out, grabbing my hand again. “Then don’t. But you have to be smart and not let your guard down.”

I nodded, the fear returning like a shadow crawling up my spine. “What if I bring him trouble?”

Lucy gave me a crooked smile. “It’s a damn good thing he looks like the kind of man who doesn’t mind getting into trouble.”

I let out a breath, half a laugh, half a sob.