Blinking back the tears she looked up at me. She was a mess, her face red and splotchy. But it might have been the first earnest look I had ever seen on her face.
“Thank you,” she said to me. “I… Thank you…”
“Do your time, both of you,” I told them. “Don’t cause any trouble. And maybe, in time, we can revisit your punishments again.”
Ian stepped closer and he and Sienna held hands through the bars.
I saw this as my time to leave, and stepped away.
Damien was waiting for me outside. When I approached him, he held his arms open for me and then held me as I slipped into his grasp. I wiped my own tears away with the back of my hands.
“You are soft, aren’t you?” he asked, but there was no heat in it. Instead, he sounded proud. “I love you.”
He kissed the top of my head, and I felt like h
