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Short filmTranscript
00:00I don't realize I'm shaking until Lily squeezes my hand and whispers,
00:04Auntie Marin, are we in trouble?
00:06Trouble, if only it were that small.
00:08The midday sun and Santa.
00:10Fee bleaches everything so bright it feels like God himself is trying to expose every lie.
00:15I've tried to bury.
00:16My ears ring.
00:17My throat tastes like metal.
00:19And every part of me wants to run.
00:21But I can't.
00:22Not with Lily's tiny.
00:23Fingers lace through mine like, I'm her whole universe.
00:26I'm okay.
00:27I lie.
00:28We're okay.
00:29Even the words sound thin, like paper ready to tear.
00:32We're standing outside this open-air market.
00:35People floating around us as if the world isn't cracking open under my feet.
00:39Colorful stalls.
00:40Turquoise jewelry.
00:42Roasted chiles.
00:43The heat rising off the pavement.
00:45Everything is too alive.
00:47Too loud.
00:47Too normal.
00:48A perfect place to hide in plain sight if only my pulse would listen.
00:52I keep scanning the street, searching faces, shadows, angles.
00:55I know I'm being followed.
00:57I know he's close.
00:58Not him.
00:58Not the man who will change everything.
01:01The other one.
01:02The man I made a mistake with months ago.
01:04The man who told me there's no such thing as walking away.
01:07I swallow hard.
01:08My niece's curls bounce as she shifts closer, pressing her cheek into my arm.
01:12Why do you look scared?
01:14She asks softly.
01:16I want to smile, I do.
01:17But my chest feels like it's collapsing from the inside.
01:20Then, out of the corner of my eye I see him.
01:23Not the man chasing us.
01:25Someone else entirely.
01:25He stands on the opposite side of the marketplace.
01:28Next to a stall selling silver belt buckles.
01:31Hands tucked casually into the pockets of his tailored black slacks.
01:35He's wearing a black designer dress shirt.
01:37The top button undone.
01:39Sleeves rolled to his forearms.
01:40The fabric hugging a frame built of quiet power.
01:43Jet black hair slightly mussed as if by stubborn fingers.
01:46A face so still it almost looks carved.
01:49Strong jaw.
01:50Dark eyes that see too much.
01:52And he's watching me.
01:53Not leering.
01:54Not suspicious.
01:55Just seeing.
01:57Like he's reading every fear I'm trying so hard to swallow.
02:00I rip my stare away.
02:01We don't need another man's attention.
02:04Especially not someone like him.
02:05Too put together.
02:07Too calm.
02:07Too expensive to be harmless.
02:09But Lily notices him before I fully turn.
02:12Why does that man look sad?
02:14She asks loud enough to carry.
02:16I cringe.
02:17He hears her.
02:18Of course he does.
02:19His brows lift a fraction.
02:21And for half a second something flickers across his face.
02:25Surprise.
02:26Amusement?
02:27Heartbreak?
02:28I don't know.
02:29I don't want to know.
02:30But Lily tugs my hand.
02:32Auntie, can I ask him?
02:33No.
02:34I say too quickly.
02:36We don't talk to strangers.
02:37He doesn't feel like a stranger.
02:39She says with that childlike certainty that terrifies me because kids can sense things adults
02:44talk themselves out of.
02:46Before I can answer, a shadow crosses the pavement.
02:49A reflection in a passing car window.
02:51A shape I recognize too well.
02:53My stomach flips violently.
02:55He's here.
02:55The man I've been running from.
02:57I grip Lily's hand so tight she whimpers and that tiny sound nearly breaks me.
03:01I need to move.
03:02Now.
03:03But my legs won't.
03:04The air feels thick, like standing inside a held breath.
03:08And then, he steps in front of us.
03:10Not the danger behind us.
03:12The man in the black shirt.
03:13He moves with a kind of precision I don't see until it's too late.
03:17Smooth.
03:18Controlled.
03:19A presence that doesn't force itself but somehow dominates anyway.
03:22He stops just a foot away.
03:24Blocking the sun.
03:25Blocking the panic swirling around me.
03:27He looks at Lily first.
03:29Then at me.
03:30Only me.
03:31His voice, when it comes, is unexpectedly warm.
03:34You okay?
03:35Just that.
03:36Two words.
03:36Simple.
03:37Real.
03:38Ah yeah.
03:38I manage, but my voice cracks.
03:40He hears it.
03:41I know he does.
03:42His eyes deepen, darken, sharpen in concern.
03:45Why do you look sad?
03:47Lily blurts again, boldly, innocently.
03:49He could laugh.
03:51He could brush her off.
03:52He could walk away.
03:53But he doesn't.
03:55He clears his throat like he's about to speak, but instead...
03:58He looks at me.
03:59As if the answer isn't about him at all.
04:02As if I'm the one he sees through.
04:03I swallow.
04:05My heart kicks hard against my ribs, screaming a warning.
04:08He studies me for a breath that feels like forever.
04:10Then shifts slightly, so he's angled between me and whatever he senses behind me.
04:15He knows.
04:15He doesn't even need me to say it.
04:18What's your name?
04:19He asks quietly.
04:20Not the tone of a man picking up a woman.
04:23More like a man trying to anchor her.
04:25Maren, I whisper.
04:26And I'm Lily, my niece adds proudly.
04:29He nods once.
04:31I'm Cassian.
04:32His name fits him.
04:33Sharp, cool.
04:34Dangerous in a way that doesn't raise its voice.
04:37I want to step back, but I don't.
04:40Something about him keeps me still.
04:42Tethered, like gravity.
04:43Do you need help, Maren?
04:45He asks.
04:46There's steel under the softness now.
04:48Don't lie.
04:49My breath stutters.
04:50I don't know him.
04:52I shouldn't trust him.
04:53But I'm already doing it.
04:54And that terrifies me more than the man hunting us.
04:57I open my mouth.
04:59But before I can answer, Lily gasps and points behind me.
05:03Auntie, that man is coming over.
05:05My blood freezes.
05:06Cassian doesn't turn right away.
05:08Instead, he watches my reaction.
05:10The fear he reads in my face, my trembling, my instinct to shield Lily, tells him everything.
05:17Then, with a slow, deliberate motion, he shifts his stance in front of us, blocking our bodies with his.
05:23I hear footsteps approaching.
05:25Heavy.
05:26Intentional.
05:27Maren, Cassian murmurs.
05:28Stay behind me.
05:29I should argue.
05:31I should drag Lily and run.
05:32But something about his voice, low, definite, unshakably calm, roots me to the spot.
05:38The footsteps stop.
05:39A familiar voice snaps the air.
05:42Found you.
05:43I flinch so hard Lily presses against my side.
05:46Cassian doesn't even blink.
05:47What do you want with her?
05:49He asks the man behind me.
05:50His tone is so controlled it scares me more than the threat itself.
05:54That's none of your business, the man says.
05:56Move.
05:57No.
05:58Just that.
05:59One word.
06:00A line drawn like a blade.
06:01My heart thunders.
06:03Cassian stands like he's made of stone.
06:05But I feel something electric in him.
06:07A quiet storm winding itself tight.
06:10The man steps closer.
06:12You don't know who you're dealing with.
06:14Cassian finally turns his head, and I watch a shadow cross his face.
06:19A knowing shadow.
06:20A dangerous one.
06:21Oh, I know, he says.
06:23But I'm guessing you don't.
06:25The air shifts.
06:26People around us drift away, sensing a threat they can't name.
06:29And somehow, in the middle of all this, Lily whispers,
06:33Auntie, he's protecting us.
06:35I close my eyes.
06:36Just for a second.
06:37I don't deserve protection.
06:39I don't deserve help.
06:40And especially not from a man whose presence feels like it could undo me in ways the danger
06:45behind me never could.
06:46Cassian's voice turns colder.
06:48You're going to walk away now.
06:50And you're never going to follow her again.
06:52My pulse stutters violently.
06:54Cassian, don't.
06:55I whisper.
06:56But he doesn't look at me.
06:58He steps forward.
06:59The man snarls.
07:00You have no idea who you're messing with.
07:02Cassian smiles then.
07:04Slow, soft, lethal.
07:06I promise you, he says, I do.
07:08And that's when everything explodes.
07:10Not with violence, not yet.
07:11But with recognition.
07:12The man behind us pales.
07:14Actually pales as...
07:16If he suddenly understands the gravity of the mistake he just made.
07:19My breath catches.
07:20Who is Cassian?
07:21What kind of man can terrify a monster like the one who's been hunting me?
07:25The man backs away.
07:27One step.
07:27Two.
07:28Then disappears into the crowd with a last glare in my direction.
07:31My knees almost buckle.
07:33Cassian faces me again.
07:35We need to get you somewhere safe.
07:37He says softly.
07:38I shake my head.
07:39I don't even know you.
07:41You don't have to.
07:42I'm helping you.
07:44Why?
07:44He hesitates.
07:46Just a heartbeat.
07:47Barely noticeable.
07:48But I feel it.
07:49Then he says, almost too quietly to hear,
07:52Because someone once helped me.
07:54When I didn't deserve it either.
07:56I should walk away.
07:57I should grab Lily and run the other direction.
07:59I should never trust a stranger.
08:01In a black designer shirt with danger woven into.
08:04Every inch of him.
08:05But Lily reaches for him.
08:07And he kneels to her level.
08:09This dangerous man.
08:11This storm in human form.
08:12And says,
08:13You're safe now.
08:14My heart twists painfully.
08:16I don't trust him.
08:17But I already want to.
08:18And that might be the most dangerous part.
08:21Come with me, he says, standing again.
08:23Before he circles back.
08:25My throat tightens.
08:26Every choice feels like stepping off a cliff.
08:29But Lily slips her hand into his without fear.
08:32And I,
08:32I take a single step closer to him.
08:35I don't know if I'm falling into danger or salvation.
08:38But when Cassian looks at me,
08:39Something inside me shifts.
08:41And that's when I realize,
08:43I've already trusted him.
08:44More than I should.
08:46More than I can afford.
08:47I don't realize how tightly I'm gripping Cassian's hand until we reach the parking.
08:52Lot beside the market in the sunlight.
08:55Flashes off a sleek black SUV that looks like it.
08:57Rolled straight out of a billionaire's fever dream.
09:00The kind of vehicle that shouldn't exist in my world.
09:03Too polished.
09:04Too armored.
09:04Too him.
09:05Cassian opens the back door for Lily first.
09:08It's strange, the gentleness of it.
09:10Like his hands know softness.
09:11Even if the rest of him is carved from something.
09:14That forgot how to bend.
09:16Lily climbs in without hesitation.
09:18Her curls bouncing as she settles in the seat.
09:20She looks at him with open trust.
09:22The kind I've never earned.
09:24Only inherited by proximity.
09:26Cassian glances at me.
09:27Eyes unreadable.
09:29You sit in the front.
09:30I swallow.
09:31Where are you taking us?
09:33Somewhere no one will find you.
09:35That's not an answer.
09:37He exhales slow, measured.
09:39And right now you don't need one.
09:40You need safety.
09:42Let me give you that.
09:43Every cell in me screams that trusting him is reckless.
09:46Stupid.
09:47Maybe fatal.
09:48But the alternative is worse.
09:49The man who followed us will return.
09:51Men like him don't just give up.
09:53They don't back off unless someone stronger pushes them back.
09:56And Cassian?
09:57He is something else entirely.
09:59I climb into the passenger seat.
10:01And the moment the door closes,
10:03the world becomes quieter.
10:04Too quiet.
10:05My breath sounds loud in the dark leather cabin.
10:08Cassian pulls out of the lot.
10:10Navigating through Santa Fe's dry, midday heat
10:12like he owns every patch of sunlit road.
10:14His shirt is unbuttoned.
10:16Just enough to reveal a thin gold.
10:18Chained beneath the...
10:19Collar.
10:20Simple but expensive.
10:22Like everything about him,
10:23I watch the city fade in the side mirror,
10:25my heart pounding.
10:26What did you get yourself into?
10:29Cassian asks softly.
10:30A simple question.
10:31It feels like a scalpel.
10:33I made a mistake, I say,
10:35staring at the dashboard.
10:36One I thought I fixed.
10:38Clearly you didn't.
10:39A flare of defensiveness rises in me,
10:41raw and ugly.
10:43You don't know what happened.
10:44No.
10:45His tone shifts,
10:46still calm but sharper, deeper.
10:49But I know fear when I see it.
10:51And I know when someone's been running for too long.
10:53That hits too close.
10:55I look out the window,
10:55blinking back the burn in my eyes.
10:57I don't want Lily to hear this.
10:59She won't, he says,
11:01adjusting the rearview mirror so he can see her.
11:04She's already asleep.
11:06I turn.
11:07She is.
11:08Her face pressed against the seat.
11:10Mouth slightly open.
11:12Exhaustion weighing down her lashes.
11:14I inhale shakily.
11:15Cassian lowers his voice.
11:17Tell me.
11:18And because everything inside me is unraveling,
11:21because his voice feels like permission to let go of the lie I've been clinging to,
11:25because I'm not just tired,
11:26I'm broken,
11:27I whisper.
11:29I trusted the wrong man.
11:30Months ago.
11:32He asked for something small.
11:33Nothing illegal.
11:35Just a favor, he said.
11:36Something that would help him get out of trouble.
11:38Cassian's knuckles tighten around the wheel.
11:41It's never small.
11:42I know.
11:43I breathe.
11:44Now I know.
11:45What did you do, Morin?
11:47I close my eyes.
11:48I delivered a message.
11:50That's all.
11:51Handed an envelope to a man outside a gallery.
11:53I didn't look inside.
11:55I didn't ask questions.
11:56I didn't want to know.
11:57Cassian goes silent.
11:59After, I cut ties.
12:01I told him I wasn't getting involved again.
12:03But he said I already was.
12:04A muscle ticks in Cassian's jaw.
12:06I tried to ignore it.
12:08But then he started calling.
12:10Showing up.
12:11Followed me home.
12:12So I left.
12:13Stayed with my sister.
12:14And now...
12:15My voice fractures.
12:17Now he knows I have Lily.
12:19My sister's out of the country for a month.
12:20And I just...
12:22I just needed to keep her safe.
12:24You shouldn't be handling this alone.
12:25I don't have anyone else.
12:28Cassian's grip loosens.
12:29Something softer enters his voice.
12:31You do now.
12:33I look at him sharply.
12:34Why?
12:34You don't know me.
12:36No, he says.
12:37But I know him.
12:39I stiffen.
12:39How?
12:40He doesn't answer.
12:42Not immediately.
12:43Instead, he turns onto a long road lined with desert brush.
12:47Sun glaring off the sand.
12:48The city shrinks behind us until it feels like a dream I already woke from.
12:52Cassian, I whisper.
12:54What aren't you telling me?
12:55He glances at me.
12:57Just enough to make my heart stutter.
12:59He works for someone I've crossed paths with.
13:01He says.
13:02A man who likes leverage.
13:04Who likes getting people tangled in his web.
13:06A cold rush crawls through me.
13:08So you're...
13:09What?
13:10One of them?
13:11No.
13:12His tone is low.
13:13Fierce.
13:13But I know their world.
13:15I know how they think.
13:17And I know how to stay three steps ahead.
13:19I shiver.
13:20Not from fear.
13:21From recognition.
13:22He's dangerous, but not to me.
13:23Not yet.
13:24After what feels like hours, he turns onto a private drive hidden behind a wall of sagebrush.
13:30A long adobe-style house appears.
13:32Warm earth tones.
13:33Glass walls reflecting the desert sun.
13:36It's beautiful in a lonely way.
13:37Like a sanctuary built for someone who forgot what home felt like.
13:41Cassian parks but doesn't move.
13:43This is your place?
13:44I ask.
13:45He nods.
13:46For now.
13:47For now?
13:47I don't stay anywhere long.
13:50Something in the way, he says, that hurts more than it should.
13:52He gets out and opens Lily's door first.
13:55Scooping her up with the ease of someone who's done it a hundred times.
13:58She curls into his chest without waking.
14:01Trusting him in ways I never learned to trust anyone.
14:03My throat tightens.
14:05Inside, the air is cool.
14:06Quiet.
14:07Too clean.
14:08The kind of quiet that feels like it hasn't been broken in years.
14:11Cassian sets Lily on a couch, tucks a blanket over her, and turns to me.
14:15You're safe here, he says.
14:18For how long?
14:19As long as you need, he answers.
14:21And what do you need?
14:23I ask before I can stop myself.
14:25His eyes darken.
14:27Not lust.
14:27Not cruelty.
14:28Something else.
14:29Something almost wounded.
14:31I need to stop pretending I'm not still human, he says quietly.
14:36Helping you reminds me.
14:37I don't know what to do with that.
14:39It feels too intimate, too sharp.
14:41I shouldn't stay, I whisper.
14:43You don't have a choice yet, he counters.
14:46He saw you.
14:47He'll come back.
14:48My knees weaken.
14:50I hate this.
14:51I hate bringing this to your door.
14:53You didn't, he says.
14:54I opened it.
14:56I sit beside Lily, taking her tiny hand in mine, grounding myself in the warmth of her innocence.
15:02She sleeps so deeply it almost hurts to look at her.
15:05Cassian sits across from me in a chair, elbows on his knees, watching me with a softness that doesn't fit the rest of him.
15:11You said you knew him, I say.
15:14The man chasing us.
15:15How?
15:16He hesitates.
15:17Something shifts behind his eyes.
15:19Not guilt, history.
15:21Maren, he says quietly.
15:24Your mistake wasn't trusting him.
15:26It was believing he wasn't connected to people far worse.
15:29My pulse stutters.
15:30So you're saying...
15:32They want something from you, he continues.
15:34And they'll keep coming until they get it.
15:37A chill grips me.
15:38Why, I'm nobody.
15:40Cassian stands, pacing once, hands flexing at his sides.
15:43That's exactly why.
15:45I don't understand.
15:46I think he sees it on my face.
15:48He stops in front of me, lowering himself to my eye level.
15:51People like them, he murmurs.
15:54They use the innocent because no one sees you coming.
15:56No one suspects you.
15:57You're clean.
15:59They can move pieces through you without drawing heat.
16:01I close my eyes.
16:02God.
16:03Hey, he says softly.
16:05Look at me.
16:06I do.
16:07I wish I didn't.
16:08His eyes feel like truth and danger wrapped together.
16:11You're not at fault, he says.
16:13But you are in the middle now.
16:15And you?
16:16I whisper.
16:17What middle are you in?
16:19For the first time, Cassian's facade cracks.
16:22Barely, but enough.
16:24I used to work for them, he says.
16:27My breath stops.
16:28He shakes his head slowly.
16:30Not by choice.
16:31But I got out.
16:33I've spent the last three years making sure they never pull me back.
16:36And now you're helping me, I say hollowly.
16:39Won't they see that as betrayal?
16:41Yes.
16:42The word lands like a stone.
16:43Why risk it?
16:44My voice breaks without permission.
16:46Why risk your life for me?
16:48He steps closer.
16:50Too close.
16:51His presence heats the air.
16:52His voice drops into something raw.
16:54Because when your niece asked me why I looked sad, he swallows.
16:59I realized I don't want to be that man anymore.
17:01My breath catches.
17:03His confession slices me open in a way I didn't expect.
17:06You don't know me.
17:07I whisper again, weaker this time.
17:10No, he says.
17:11But I know what it is to be hunted.
17:13And I know what it is to need someone, anyone, to step in before you shatter.
17:19My vision blurs.
17:20I force myself to breathe.
17:22He reaches out, slowly, giving me every chance to pull away, and tucks a stray curl behind
17:27my ear.
17:29His fingers graze my skin.
17:31The touch is soft, reverent, almost apologetic.
17:34Heat blooms through me.
17:35Fear and longing braided so tightly I can't tell which is which.
17:39Then, a loud beep shatters the moment.
17:42Cassian stiffens.
17:43He checks his phone.
17:45His jaw locks.
17:46What?
17:46I whisper.
17:47He turns the screen toward me.
17:49A message.
17:50No name.
17:51Just a number I don't recognize.
17:53You should have walked away, Cassian.
17:55Now you're in this, too.
17:56We're coming for her.
17:58And the child.
17:59My blood goes cold.
18:00Lily shifts in her sleep, unaware of the world collapsing around her.
18:04I look at Cassian.
18:06He looks at me.
18:08The world feels too small, suddenly.
18:10Too fragile.
18:11Too loud inside my ribcage.
18:13What do we do?
18:14I whisper.
18:15His answer is immediate, unshakable.
18:17I protect you, he says.
18:19Even if it kills me.
18:20My heart stutters violently.
18:22Before I can speak.
18:24Before I can breathe.
18:25Before I can process the weight of his promise.
18:28A shadow moves past the glass wall.
18:30Slow.
18:31Deliberate.
18:32Cassian curses under his breath.
18:34Grabs my wrist and pulls me behind him.
18:36Stay behind me, Maren.
18:37He murmurs.
18:38My heartbeat crashes against my ribs.
18:41He reaches for a hidden drawer in the wall.
18:43I hear the metallic click of a gun.
18:45And in that second, I know.
18:47This is no longer about the mistake I made.
18:50This is about the war he tried to leave.
18:51And we're standing right in the center of it.
18:53The first thing I remember after everything went black is the sky.
18:57Not a storm.
18:59Not smoke.
18:59Not the chaos from Cassian's house.
19:02Just a clean, honest strip of Arizona sun.
19:04White hot and merciless above me.
19:07I blinked awake in a motel far outside Flagstaff.
19:10My body aching, my mind splintered.
19:12Lily asleep beside me, small and warm and safe.
19:16Curled like nothing could ever touch her again.
19:18Cassian wasn't there.
19:19He had dragged us out.
19:21I know that much.
19:22I remember the thunder of footsteps.
19:25The sound of shattering glass.
19:27Cassian shouting my name.
19:28The weight of his body knocking me to the floor right before a gun went off.
19:32Then darkness.
19:33And now, this quiet place.
19:35With the desert stretching endlessly beyond the windows like a blank page.
19:39I never asked for.
19:40My heartbeat still trembles whenever I think about that night.
19:43But the silence after.
19:45That's worse.
19:46Because when I woke, he was gone.
19:47No note.
19:48No message.
19:49No promise.
19:50Just absence.
19:51Like a held breath that never returns.
19:54For weeks, I told myself I didn't care.
19:56That he got what he wanted.
19:58Distance.
19:59Freedom.
20:00A clean exit from the mess I brought to his door.
20:03But the truth?
20:04The truth I can barely admit even now?
20:06He left to keep us safe.
20:08I felt it the moment I saw the blood on the back of his abandoned shirt.
20:12The shirt he wrapped around Lily to hide her from glass and gunfire.
20:15The shirt that smelled like cedar and danger and something gentler.
20:19I don't have words for.
20:20Lily kept asking where he was.
20:22I kept lying.
20:24He's somewhere safe.
20:25But every night she left the motel blinds cracked open.
20:29As if she knew he'd step out of the sunlight like he always did.
20:33Calm.
20:34Dangerous.
20:35Steady.
20:35In the places where I wasn't.
20:37He didn't.
20:38Months passed.
20:39We moved.
20:40Quietly.
20:41Carefully.
20:42I found work under a different name.
20:44A small design shop in Sedona.
20:47Surrounded by red rock formations that look like ancient gods frozen in time.
20:51The kind of place people run to when they want to.
20:53Disappear but heal a little while doing it.
20:56I didn't expect to heal.
20:57I didn't expect anything.
20:59But every morning.
21:00When Lily wrapped her arms around my neck and whispered.
21:03We're safe now, Auntie.
21:05Something inside me stitched back together.
21:08Not all at once.
21:09Slowly.
21:10Painfully.
21:11Like.
21:11Skin learning how to grow again.
21:14Over an old burn.
21:15We laughed more.
21:16We made pancakes every Sunday.
21:18We built a life out of borrowed sunlight and second chances.
21:21Some days I even convinced myself that Cassian was just a moment in our story.
21:26A violent, bright, unforgettable moment.
21:29But still just a moment.
21:30But then there were nights.
21:32Nights when the desert wind pushed against the windows.
21:35And Lily slept clutching the stuffed rabbit Cassian bought her in Santa Fe.
21:39And I lay awake with my hand pressed.
21:41Over my heart like it might fall out of my chest.
21:43If I didn't hold it still.
21:45I loved him.
21:46Even if I never said it.
21:48Even if I didn't have the right to.
21:49And I hated that he left before I could tell him the truth.
21:52I didn't know I carried until he was already gone.
21:54So when he finally comes back, it's almost cruel how quietly it happens.
21:59It's late afternoon.
22:00The kind of warm, honey-thick light that makes Sedona glow like it's on fire without burning.
22:05I'm walking home with Lily after work.
22:08Holding her hand while she hops over every crack in the sidewalk.
22:11And there he is.
22:12Leaning against the hood of a matte black car.
22:14Sleek.
22:15Expensive.
22:16Sinfully out of place in this sleepy town.
22:18His hair is longer.
22:20His jaw sharper.
22:21His body the same intimidating calm.
22:24He's wearing another black designer shirt.
22:26Of course.
22:27Top button undone.
22:28Sleeves rolled.
22:29Sun catching the faint scar on his forearm I don't remember seeing before.
22:33But his eyes?
22:34God.
22:34His eyes.
22:35They don't look like storms anymore.
22:37They look like someone who...
22:39Finally outran something that's been...
22:41Hunting him for years.
22:42Lily drops my hand before I can react.
22:44Cassian!
22:46She sprints.
22:47He doesn't even brace.
22:48He just catches her mid-jump.
22:50Like he's been imagining this exact moment every day we've been gone.
22:54I stand frozen.
22:55My throat tight.
22:56My lungs refusing to work.
22:58My spine too full of old fear and new hope to move.
23:01He sets Lily down.
23:02Murmuring something that makes her laugh.
23:04And then he turns toward me.
23:06Slowly.
23:07Like every movement costs him something.
23:10Maren.
23:10Just my name.
23:11Soft.
23:12Steady.
23:13Devastating.
23:13I don't trust my voice.
23:15So I don't try to use it.
23:17I just stare.
23:18Afraid that if I blink, he'll vanish like a sunspot.
23:21He steps closer.
23:22Another step.
23:23Another.
23:24He stops a foot away, hands at his sides.
23:26As if he's scared that touching me might break everything he came back to rebuild.
23:31I didn't leave because I wanted to.
23:33He says quietly.
23:34I know.
23:35I whisper.
23:36He blinks, surprised.
23:38You do?
23:38You left to get them off my trail.
23:41Off Lily's.
23:42My voice cracks.
23:43Off yours.
23:44He exhales like I handed him forgiveness he never expected to earn.
23:48I had to fix what I broke, he says.
23:50What I dragged you into.
23:52You didn't drag me, I say.
23:54I was already falling.
23:56He closes his eyes, jaw tightening like my words hurt more than bullets.
24:00I should have stayed.
24:02I wanted to.
24:03Every day, every...
24:04He stops himself.
24:06Breath trembling.
24:07Shoulders shaking once, violently.
24:09Like someone pushing back emotions he's not used to showing.
24:12But I wasn't a safe place yet.
24:14He finishes.
24:15Voice raw.
24:16I had to become one.
24:17I feel myself unraveling.
24:19Slow.
24:20Helpless.
24:21Honest.
24:22What did you do, Cassian?
24:24I whisper.
24:25I burned every bridge they could use to reach you, he says.
24:28And then I built new ones for myself so I could walk back to you.
24:33My chest collapses.
24:34You could have died.
24:36I didn't, he leans closer.
24:38Because I wanted to come home.
24:40Home.
24:40The word hits me like a miracle I don't know how to hold.
24:43Lily tugs at my shirt.
24:45Auntie, can he stay with us now?
24:47Cassian's face softens in a way I've never seen.
24:50Not dangerous.
24:51Not guarded.
24:52Not broken.
24:53Just human.
24:54He kneels, meeting Lily's eyes.
24:56Only if your aunt wants me here.
24:58Lily turns to me, expectant.
25:00Cassian's eyes rise to meet mine with a question that steals my breath.
25:04Do you want me?
25:05Not as a savior.
25:06Not as a soldier.
25:07Not as a shield.
25:09Just as a man trying to love someone without ruining them.
25:12I'm not the same person I was, I say softly.
25:15I know.
25:16And I'm still learning how to breathe again.
25:18I'll learn with you.
25:20I'm scared, I confess.
25:21I am too.
25:22What if we break each other?
25:24His voice drops to a whisper.
25:27Straight into the place inside me, I swore no one would ever touch.
25:31Then we rebuild.
25:32That's what love is, Mirren.
25:33Not perfection.
25:34Just choosing each other even when everything hurts.
25:37My vision blurs.
25:38I want him.
25:39God, I want him.
25:40But not the chaos.
25:42Not the running.
25:43Not the bleeding in the dark.
25:44Just this.
25:46The sunlight.
25:47The stillness.
25:48The man who returned with nothing left to hide.
25:50I step into him.
25:52Slow.
25:53Careful.
25:53Alive.
25:54His hands hover near my waist, waiting.
25:57Always waiting until I guide them in.
25:59When I press my forehead to his, he exhales a breath that sounds like a man surviving.
26:05Something he thought would kill him.
26:07Stay, I whisper.
26:08His fingers tremble against my hips.
26:11I will, he says.
26:12This time I don't walk away.
26:14Lily cheers.
26:15I laugh through tears.
26:17Cassian holds me like, I'm the last soft thing in a world built of glass and gunmetal.
26:22And for the first time since the day I ran, I feel safe.
26:25Not because the danger is gone, but because I finally stopped running alone.
26:29He pulls back just enough to look into my eyes.
26:32I love you, he murmurs.
26:34The words fragile and fierce.
26:36And I'm done pretending I don't.
26:38My heart breaks open.
26:39And something new grows in the space the fear once lived.
26:42I love you too.
26:43I breathe.
26:44Even when I tried not to.
26:46Cassian brushes his thumb along my cheek.
26:48Tender in ways that make my knees weaken.
26:51Then let's start over.
26:52He whispers.
26:53Not the past.
26:54Not what burned.
26:55Just what's left.
26:56Just us.
26:57And under the warm Sedona sun, with Lily spinning in circles beside us,
27:01I let myself imagine a life where love doesn't end in gunshots.
27:05A life where love is a choice.
27:07Not a weapon.
27:08A life we build slowly, gently, fearlessly.
27:11A life we survive.
27:12Together.
27:13Hey love, if you enjoyed this story, don't forget to subscribe.
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27:18Your support helps me bring you even more intense, beautiful stories.
27:22Thanks for being here.
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