Chapter 36 #2
Nico stood frozen for one beat longer. Then he walked to them, stopped, and sank down onto both knees with a slow exhale like the movement cost him something sacred.
He looked at Bea through his glasses, and she could see the red in his eyes.
“I think I hate apologies because they sound too clean,” he said quietly. “And what I did to you was not clean. It was ugly.”
He clasped his hands loosely in front of him and laughed once, bitterly.
“I saw the cracks. I saw the inconsistencies. I knew Victor was pushing too hard, too fast, and I still chose the evidence he handed me because it was easier than admitting I was terrified that the woman I loved might be exactly what he said.”
Bea’s lips parted.
Nico’s voice dropped lower. “That fear was mine. It was not your burden to carry. But I made you carry it anyway.”
He took off his glasses and set them aside, then looked at her with nothing to shield him.
“I know you do not lie when it matters. I knew it then, and I betrayed that truth because I was afraid and humiliated and not half as smart as I thought I was.” He inhaled shakily. “You deserved faith from me. You got suspicion.”
Bea covered her mouth with one hand.
Nico’s eyes glistened. “I am sorry, Bea. I am sorry I did not choose you when I should have. I am sorry I made you feel alone. And I am sorry that by the time I understood what we had done, you were already being comforted by another then attacked before we could make it to you.”
No one moved. No one breathed.
Bea stood before them with tears running unchecked now. Looking down at three men on their knees in the middle of a ballroom where blood had dried not long ago.
They looked nothing like kings.
They looked like men in love.
Men who knew exactly how badly they had failed.
Men who would carry that failure even if she forgave them.
Bea wiped furiously at her face, then laughed once through the tears because if she did not, she thought she might collapse.
“You really made me work for this dramatic moment,” she whispered.
Killian let out a ragged breath that was almost a laugh.
Dimitri bowed his head for one second.
Nico looked like he was trying not to hope too hard.
Bea drew in a long, shaky breath and squared her shoulders.
“I am going to say this once,” she said.
All three of them straightened without rising.
“If any of you ever accuse me of something I tell you I did not do, it is over.” Her voice shook, but it did not break.
“I will not spend the rest of my life trying to prove myself to men who claim to love me. I already survived that kind of home once. I will not live in another one just to do it all over again.”
That landed like a blow.
“I also need to make something very clear. Marco is my best friend. Yes, we’ve fucked, yes we have been there for each other over the years. That was in the past, years ago. I will not give him up over your jealousy, that ends now.”
Dimitri closed his eyes. Killian went pale. Nico looked physically ill.
Bea kept going. “And if you ever let another person’s opinion of me carry more weight than my own word, it is over.
” She looked directly at Dimitri. “And you do not ever raise your voice at me in anger like that again. I don’t care how furious you are.
I don’t care how scared you are. You do not get to become another man I have to flinch from. ”
Dimitri’s face crumpled for one unguarded second. “You have my word,” he said immediately. “On my life. On this family. On everything I am.”
“Mine too,” Killian said, voice fierce. “I swear it.” Nico nodded. “You will never have to say it twice.” Bea stared at them for another long beat.
Then, because she was still Bea even now, she sniffed and said, “Good. Because if I have to drag all three of you through another emotional bloodbath after I spent the whole night exposing a traitor, I will be very irritated.”
To her utter annoyance, Killian laughed. A real laugh. Wet at the edges. Exhausted. But real.
That did it. The tension cracked. Killian rose first, slowly because of his side, and hesitated like he was afraid to touch her without permission.
Bea opened her arms. He made a sound she had never heard from him before and pulled her into his chest so carefully it broke her all over again.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She held him just as tight. Then Nico. Then Dimitri.
And when Dimitri finally wrapped his arms around her, she felt the full weight of him tremble once before he buried his face against her neck.
“Come home with us,” he said quietly. “Not because we deserve it. Because I cannot endure another night not knowing if you are safe.”
Bea closed her eyes. She could still feel the bruises on her throat. The ache in her chest.
The ghosts of the things they had said to her. But she could also feel this.
Their grief. Their love. Their remorse. And it was real.
She pulled back enough to look at all three of them.
“I am still angry,” she said.
Killian nodded. “You should be.”
“I am still hurt.”
Nico swallowed. “I know.”
“And you are all going to spend a very long time making this up to me.”
For the first time that night, Dimitri’s mouth twitched. “Gladly.”
Bea looked between them, then sighed with theatrical exhaustion. “Fine. But if I hear a single stupid thing before I get at least eight hours of sleep and a decent breakfast, I am leaving all of you in the dust.”
Killian grinned. “That sounds fair.”
Nico retrieved his glasses, still blinking too fast.
Dimitri offered her his hand. Not a command. An offering. Bea looked at it, then at him, and slipped her fingers into his. Together, the four of them walked out of the ballroom.
Not healed. Not whole. Not yet at least. But moving in the same direction, and for tonight, that was enough.