He reached for her hand and she let him for the briefest second before she pulled away. The gesture was simple but loaded: his fingers brushed hers, a tiny shock of contact that made both of them wince with wanting.
“People were after me,” he said. “They were after anyone who touched the ledger. I had to make moves you wouldn’t understand. I had to build a fortress out of business and bought men. I had to stop looking like the man who sleeps on couches if I wanted to buy you a safe life. I did things I don’t like admitting. But I did them for you. For us.”
Her face folded. Betrayal is not just that he vanished; it is the way someone you love becomes a stranger who has the temerity to save you by breaking a promise. “You made choices that left me to pick up the knives,” she said. “I was t
