CHAPTER 32
MIA
The smile on Zane’s face makes me pause for a moment. It’s one of those small, rare smiles that appears when he truly relaxes. I can’t help it—I smile back.
“You talked to Taylor,” I say, noticing something has changed in him.
He nods. “Yes. And with Kyle.”
"And…?"
“And we’re fine.” He says it like he’s still processing it, like the idea of “fine” is too new to say out loud.
My heart warms. His family has always been a part of who he is, even when he was far away. Seeing it rebuilding gives me hope.
Then I remember.
My brother.
My expression softens, but a twinge of anxiety settles in my chest. “I need to see Seth.”
“You will.” The certainty in Zane’s voice calms me a little. “Laura assured me he’s alive. Now it’s just a matter of time.”
I nod, but time never seems enough when it comes to Seth. I just want to see him.
My fingers find Zane's, and he intertwines ours without hesitation.
I look at him, at the features I know so well, at the eyes that hold so much more than he ever says out loud. Everything that has happened has brought us here, but for the first time in a long time, I don't feel like I'm just surviving.
I am here.
With him.
And that's enough.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I confess, my voice low, as if it were a secret.
His fingers tighten around mine, the touch firm and full of something he doesn’t need to say. “I’ve never really been away.”
I lean into him, resting my forehead against his. I close my eyes and just breathe.
After a moment, Zane speaks. “Let’s go to LA.”
I step back slightly to face him.
He smiles, almost as if testing the words. “Let’s live there. Travel the world. Do whatever we want.”
The idea settles into me as something natural, something right. My smile widens. “Sounds perfect.”
But then my mind returns to reality.
Nico is still alive.
And I know that justice and peace cannot exist at the same time as long as he continues to breathe.
Zane sees the change in my expression before I even say anything.
“I know,” he murmurs.
I stare at him. “We can have peace when he dies.”
He smiles weakly, a dark glint in his eyes.
“You never take the easy option, do you?”
I shrug, a smile playing on my lips. “Never.”
“I told you, wherever you go I go, Mia Hill. I would run if you wanted me to. But I can also fight if that’s your choice.”
“There is no peace without justice, Zane,” I murmur. “Even though the idea of living far away from here is tempting. I can’t let the people I love live through this war alone. And I suspect neither can you.”
He looks at me with an intensity that tears apart any distance between us, and his eyes shine with a mixture of deep love and a slight melancholy.
“Sometimes I forget how good you are, wife,” he whispers, pulling me close and burying his face in my neck, as if he wants to absorb every inch of me. “Good in so many ways I can’t even count.”
I smile, a small smile, trying to hide the insecurity that creeps into me. “I know, you don’t support killing.”
He pulls back slightly, his eyes glinting with slight provocation. “No. You can kill whoever you want, love,” Zane says with a goofy smile on his lips. “At this point, I’ll just be here to help you.”
I laugh softly, feeling the heat of his body against mine, and he pulls me to him again, his arms wrapping around me like I’m the only thing that matters. “You have no idea what you made me do, do you?” he whispers against my skin. “I’d let you cut me open if that’s what you wanted. I’d let you burn the world down. And I’d follow you, Mia. I’d always follow you.”
I teasingly place a soft kiss on his lips, feeling the need to tease him, to test the limits of his love. “Obsessed.”
He sighs, and his eyes darken, as if desire has taken hold of him in a way he can no longer control. “To the point of sickness,” he murmurs. “I’m glad you don’t want kids, because I don’t know if I can share you with anyone else.”
“I love how you match my madness,” I say, smiling sweetly, and I can see he smiles too, but it’s the smile of someone who’s lost in the chaos of love.
“I love you, as easy as breathing,” he whispers, and kisses me again, with a softness that only he knows how to have.
"You said that to me that day at the hearing, why?" I ask, curiosity tugging at my voice.
Zane’s gaze softens, the intensity in his eyes shifting, like he’s letting me see a piece of him few ever get to touch.
His fingers trace the edge of my jaw, a gentle touch, as if he’s grounding himself before he speaks. "Because my father once told me that with the right person, love would be as easy as breathing." His eyes lock onto mine, deep and unwavering. "You are that person."
The words hang between us, raw and filled with something I can’t name. I smile, my heart swelling with a love I don’t even know how to contain. It’s a warmth that spreads through me, filling the hollow parts I didn’t know were there.
I close the distance between us, pressing my lips against his briefly, feeling the storm of emotions that always surge when we touch. He responds, pulling me closer, as if he needs to keep me tethered to him. The kiss deepens, and I feel the weight of his love in every touch, in the way his arms tighten around me.
He murmurs against my lips, voice rough and dark, like it’s meant just for me. “I never thought I'd find someone like you, Mia. You make everything... easier. Even this madness.” His breath catches in his chest, and I feel the shiver run through him. “You make me feel like I can breathe again."
I pull back just enough to meet his eyes, my heart racing. "I love you, Zane. As easy as breathing."
He smiles, a rare, quiet thing that almost cracks the dark edge of him, but just as quickly as it appears, it’s gone. His face hardens, the protector in him flickering to life. "As long as it’s you and me, I don’t care about anything else."
I laugh softly, despite the heavy weight of his words.
He leans his forehead against mine, his breath mingling with mine, the world outside us fading into nothing. “You’re mine, Mia. Always. Even when it feels like everything else is falling apart. You’ll never be alone in this. I’ll make sure of that.”
The promise in his voice settles deep within me, like a dark, consuming force that both terrifies and excites me. I smile, feeling the warmth of it wrap around me. "Together, Zane. Until the end."
I lose myself in him, without reservation, as if each kiss were the last.
In the small moments of happiness, we feel the weight of who we are, of the intensity with which we consume ourselves.
He is real. He is more real than anything I have ever felt.
He makes me feel that, despite the world being a chaotic and difficult place, with him everything is simple, everything is pure.
I will always love Zane, fiercely, as if each moment with him could be the last.
Desperately, like a drowning person gasping for air, with a hunger so deep it feels like it could consume me whole. And possessively, like he’s a rare, precious treasure that no one else can ever touch, a piece of him that belongs only to me.
If he hides, I seek. Because we are each other's shadows, always.
Until the end.