Chapter 19 - The Choice

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“You’re paying me off?” Ellie asked, her voice dangerously quiet.

Jack flinched as if she had struck him. “No. I’m giving you your freedom, Ellie. The war is over. You don’t have to pretend to be tied to a man who makes his living in the shadows. You can have a normal, safe life.”

“A normal life,” Ellie repeated, tracing the edge of the manila folder. “Without Liam. Without you.”

“I’m not a good man, Ellie,” Jack said, leaning forward, his eyes burning with a desperate intensity. “I have blood on my hands. I have enemies that I haven’t even met yet. The night you got shot, you were collateral damage in my world. I can’t—I won’t—let that happen to you again. You deserve better than looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life.”

Ellie stood up. She didn’t open the folder. She didn’t look at the check.

She walked around the desk, stopping inches from Jack’s chair. He looked up at her, his storm-gray eyes guarded, trying so hard to push her away for her own good.

“Do you want me to leave, Jack?” she asked softly.

Jack swallowed hard. “That’s not the point.”

“It is the only point,” Ellie countered, her voice hardening. “You don’t get to make my choices for me. Not anymore. The men who shot me didn’t care if I was a maid or your wife. But I do.”

She reached down, grabbing the lapels of his crisp white shirt, forcing him to look directly into her eyes.

“I didn’t survive three bullets just to walk away with a check and a quiet house in the suburbs,” she whispered. “I love Liam. And god help me, I love you.”

Jack completely shattered.

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He grabbed her waist, pulling her onto his lap, burying his face in the crook of her neck. He breathed her in like she was the only oxygen left in the room, his hands desperately tracing the curve of her spine, carefully avoiding her healing ribs.

“If you stay,” Jack murmured against her skin, his voice thick with emotion, “I will never let you go. You understand me? Never.”