Chapter Forty-One
THE WORLD HAD been loud, gunfire, shouting, the roar of rage and fear. But now, weeks later, it was quiet in a way I hadn’t thought possible.
The clubhouse was alive around me, laughter and voices spilling through the walls, but none of it felt threatening. It was safe here. I was safe here.
I sat at the window of Ashen’s room, sunlight warming my face, my fingers turning a simple piece of paper into a bird. My hands didn’t shake anymore.
Sometimes I thought of Dusty, the way he’d looked in those last moments, broken but brave, determined to make it right.
He’d chosen me over his own fear. I whispered thank you into the night when no one else could hear.
His sacrifice lived inside me, a reminder that even the most damaged hearts could find a way to choose love at the end.
I thought of who I’d been before, silent, small, trained to be nothing more than a shadow. And then of who I was now. I spoke when I wanted. I laughed when something was funny. I reached out and touched Ashen without hesitation. I wasn’t afraid of being heard anymore.
And sometimes, when I closed my eyes, I went back to that night, the warehouse, the gun pressed cold against my skin. For so long, silence had been my shield. But when the world threatened to end, I didn’t hide behind it. I broke it. I called out. I called for him.
Ashen.
The first word I chose to shout, and the only one that mattered.
A soft knock pulled me back. The door eased open and his shadow filled the room, long and familiar, steady as the man himself. Ashen. My green-eyed savior. My protector. My love.
He crossed the room in a few strides, his rough hands covering mine, the bird caught between us. His eyes softened when they found mine, the way they always did.
“You already took flight,” he murmured. “And I’ll never let you fall.”
When his lips brushed mine, warm and certain, I knew the truth of it in my bones. I wasn’t just surviving anymore. I was living.
With him. Forever.
My silence had once been my prison. Now it was mine to wield. A choice. A strength. And with Ashen beside me, I would never be caged again.
Silent as sin, only this time, it meant freedom.