(Serena's POV)
Julian stayed on the floor, shoulders shaking, while a room full of strangers watched. He had spent three years above me, setting each test and judging every sacrifice. Now legal papers covered the marble between us, and he waited for my answer from his knees.
Three years ago, I would have taken any one of those papers and thanked him for saving us. A fraction of that fortune would have kept me out of BioGen. I looked at it now and saw another price he expected me to accept.
The anger I had carried through the clinic was gone. I had no need to see him suffer either. His grief reached me through the shake of his shoulders and the breaks in his breathing, but it belonged to him. I had spent enough of my life carrying what belonged to Julian.
I left the documents where they
