Nicholas’s POV
The room went so quiet I could hear my own heartbeat slamming against my ribs.
Marco stood frozen—eyes wide, face pale, like he’d just walked into a lion’s den and realized he was dinner.
I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right.
Did he just say he found the missing segment?
The same missing segment we’d hunted for three years. The missing piece that could explain how to keep Hazel safe—how to keep her alive. The one thing that could finally let me stop lying to her. Stop hurting her. Stop pretending I didn’t love her more than my own life.
Three years. Three f*****g years of dead ends, ransacked libraries and sleepless nights.
Hazel was still pressed against me—her wrist caught in my hand, her body warm and trembling just enough for me to feel it. I could smell her—vanilla,
