Page 123 of The Beast's Broken Angel

“Fully decoded,” he said. “He detailed every stage of my conditioning. Every test. Every control phrase.”

“And yet here you are.”

He looked up at me. “I still wonder if any of me was ever mine.”

I crossed the room and sat beside him. “You've spent the last two years tearing out every thread he stitched into you. Dismantling his network. Proving that what he created couldn't contain what you chose to become. That sounds like you to me.”

“I feel it sometimes. When I'm tired. When I'm angry. The old programming.”

“You override it. That's choice.”

His eyes met mine, shadowed but steady. “Do you ever regret it? Staying through all of it? The retaliation, the threats, watching me become what I needed to be to end his influence?”

“Saying yes to you?” I shook myhead. “Never. Not when you gave Turner's allies the choice to walk away. Not when you systematically dismantled every piece of Harrison's corruption. Not when you proved that strength doesn't have to mean cruelty.”

We were quiet for a long time. Just the fire cracking softly, and the quiet murmur of wind beyond the windows.

He reached out, laced his fingers through mine. “You gave me my life back.”

“No,” I said, voice thick. “You built this life. I just stood beside you while you learned how to keep it.”

He leaned forward, resting his forehead to mine. “The Calloway operations are almost clean now. The violence is quieter. Targeted. Not random.”

“Because you chose better.”

“No. Because you made me want to.”

His lips brushed mine, not with hunger, but reverence. “Your contract expired a long time ago.”

“I know.”

“But you stayed. Through everything. Even when Harrison's people came for us. Even when choosing me meant choosing this life.”

I smiled. “Some prisoners learn their cell had a door all along.”

“And some monsters learn they're more than the worst thing they've ever done.”

He kissed me again. Deeper this time. Like maybe love didn't have to ache anymore. Like maybe it could be home.

We stayed like that for a long time. The fire burned low, and for once, there were no shadows left to chase.

Just us.

Alive.

Together.

And healing.