I understood why.
That did not make it hurt less.
“You should have trusted me.”
“I did.”
“No. You protected me.”
His eyes filled.
“I thought those were the same thing.”
I looked at him for a long time.
“They aren’t.”
The words remained between us.
Heavy.
True.
Then Liam nodded.
“No,” he said. “They’re not.”
He reached for my hand but stopped before touching me.
For years, Ethan had taken decisions away from me.
Small ones first.
Restaurants.
Clothes.
Friends.
Then larger ones.
Money.
Work.
Movement.
Liam, trying to save me, had made a different mistake.
He had hidden the truth because he believed knowing it might place me in danger.
The intention was love.
But the silence still left me powerless.
I looked at his waiting hand.
Then I placed mine in it.
“Don’t protect me from my own life again.”
His fingers closed around mine.
