Lucy’s POV
“I admit that I withheld this information from you,” Kenneth began, his voice carrying a tremor that I had never heard before. “But I did tell you there was something else I was keeping from you… something I wanted you to discover for yourself.” His words came out heavy, almost brittle, as though he feared they might shatter the bond between us once spoken aloud.
My gaze dropped to the ground. He was right. He had warned me there was more to him than met the eye. I just hadn’t expected it to be this—him shifting from a lion into the man I loved. My toes curled into the soil beneath me as silence stretched between us like a suffocating blanket. Five minutes, maybe more, ticked past, each heartbeat hammering louder in my chest until the quiet felt like an eternity.
He shuffled
