Chapter Eighteen #3
Lennox watched him crumple onto the expensive office rug in his bad suit, sobbing into one hand while the other clutched his phone like it might turn back into a lifeline—it would not.
“You played a stupid game,” Lennox said, “and won the ultimate stupid prize.”
Curtis looked up, face wet. “Please. I didn’t know she was yours.”
Lennox crouched in front of him, voice dropping.
“Lane isn’t protected because she’s mine,” he said.
“She’s protected because she’s Lane Sanders.
Because The Full Plate Project feeds people your investors want to erase.
Because you tried to frame a nonprofit to make way for luxury apartments and a coffee shop that charges twelve dollars for foam.
Not to mention you were dumb enough to let Jason Jackson write your playbook. ”
Lennox stood. “You’ll get paperwork within the hour. Cooperate, and you may keep your freedom long enough to downsize. Lie, and I’ll make sure the only transition strategy you need involves a bunk bed.”
He left Curtis on the floor. Business was handled on his end. By the time Lennox got back to his car, the anger had cooled into focus.
His father had been neutralized; Curtis had crumbled, and The Council had severed every tie that mattered. The acquisition corridor was dead before Lane even knew the final blow had landed. Now came the part that mattered more.
Inside was the gift he knew would bring Lane to tears.
Not jewelry, though he’d considered it. Not a car, though the thought had amused him after the heartbreak Horcrux incident.
Not another donation, though The Full Plate Project would never want for quarterly funding again as long as he drew breath. It was hers without strings.
The deed transfer for The Full Plate Project building and the surrounding parcel, purchased through an independent community trust and assigned directly to the nonprofit.
No developer could touch it. No landlord could pressure her.
No acquisition consultant could stand in her doorway and suggest progress required displacement.
Lane’s food bank would own its home, and her staff would keep their jobs for as long as they wanted, with better pay. Lennox ran his thumb over the folder’s edge, fighting not to tell her immediately. But he also wanted to ask her something first. Make what they were doing official.
Publicly enough to make the people who loved her witness it, but privately enough that she wouldn’t feel cornered.
Lane had called him her man. She had claimed him in kitchens, cars, and chaos.
But Lennox wanted to ask her with intention.
Not assume because he had earned a place beside her.
Not claim because his heart had already moved in and started rearranging furniture.
Ask.
He was going to gather Khalil, Cadence, Nova, and Tariq.
Her people. Their people now, if he was lucky and nobody voted him off the island for previous crimes.
He’d make it beautiful. Not too much, because Lane grew suspicious when beauty leaned toward the dramatic.
But enough. Food from her favorite places.
Lavender everywhere and Dahlias too, now that Calla had given them new meaning. He opened the group chat.
Me: Need everybody at The Full Plate Project tonight after closing. Important.
Tariq: Is this about your car parts? Because I found the left mirror and the poem was elite.
KC: What’s going on?
Nova: If this is another adult diaper situation, I’m blocking you in real life.
Cadence: Lennox, I’m too pregnant for vague. Explain.
Lennox looked at the folder again before replying in the chat.
Me: I’m asking Lane to officially be mine.
He was wondering if his message had gone through because it was literal minutes with no response, and then it exploded with messages.
Nova: OH MY GOD.
Tariq: FINALLY.
KC: Proud of you, bro.
Cadence: I’m crying and annoyed. What do you need?
Lennox smiled.
There they were. The people Lane had chosen before she knew she was choosing a family. The people who had held her when she broke.
The people who would stand close enough tonight for her to know that being loved didn’t have to mean being alone with the fear of it.
He typed one more message.
Me: I have a gift for her. She’s gonna cry.
Nova: If you make her ugly cry, I’m fighting you before I hug you.
Cadence: Send assignments. I’m waddling with purpose.
Tariq: I’m bringing tissues and liquor.
KC: No liquor for Cadence.
Lennox laughed as he started his car. The road ahead didn’t feel like something he had to control before it controlled him these days.
It felt like somewhere he was choosing to go.
He was done running and hiding. He shared DNA with Jason Jackson, but it wasn’t important enough to drown out the man he was becoming.
He was the only person in control of who he was and how he loved.
He found home with Lane, and there was only one question he should’ve been brave enough to ask long before now.