By the time the car pulls up in front of the hotel, it’s late and I’m exhausted. I use my keycard and ride the elevator to the penthouse. It’s quiet. Dim. Just the low mechanical hum of gears turning, the soft whir of the elevator rising floor by floor, and the distant pulse of city noise beyond the glass.

When the doors slide open, I step inside and pause.

Alex is there. Waiting.

He’s sitting in the chair near the windows, one leg propped up on an ottoman, crutches leaning beside him. He looks pale and tense, like he hasn’t slept in days. His eyes snap to mine the second I step inside, and he starts to stand—but he doesn’t get far before I drop my bag and rush to him across the room.

I’m on him in seconds, careful of his leg, climbing into his lap like gravity’s been pulling me there all along. His arms lock around my waist, his face burying in my neck as I curl against him.

We don’t speak. We don’t have to.

His chest rises and falls against mine, erratic, like the weight of seeing me knocked something loose in him. My fingers sink into his hair, anchoring myself to the man who is my home.

“Babe, I’ve been losing my mind.”

I press my lips to his temple. “I’m sorry.”

We stay like that for a long while. Just breathing. Holding. Letting the world fall away.

My heart calms, and he pulls back just enough to look at me. His hands tighten at my waist. “Tell me everything.”

So I do.

I can feel it—Alex’s anger. The way his jaw locks. The way his hands flex beneath mine like they’re dying to be fists.

When I finish, his voice is low and wrecked. “I should’ve been there.”

“No,” I say, brushing his hair back. “You don’t get to do that. This isn’t your fault.”

His eyes flash with fury. “He’s obsessed with you because of me.”

I sigh. “Maybe it started that way. But it’s become something different now.”

“What do you mean?”

The words are heavy, but I owe him the truth. “He believes he loves me. Like, truly. In that twisted way that some people perceive love.”

Alex looks like he might break something.

“You’re staying here until we figure this out.”

I pause. Not because I’m resisting—but because I’m not used to being the one who surrenders.

“Okay.”

His brows lift, surprised.

“I’ve never been afraid like that of someone before.”

He squeezes me to him.

“Right now, I need to feel safe.”

He presses a kiss to my temple, fierce and full of everything he hasn’t said yet. “You are always safe with me, favorite.”