Asher’s POV

I hesitated, then turned to her fully. “I want you to be proud of me.”

She paused, her hands resting lightly on my arm. “Asher, I am proud of you and of what you’ve done so far. You are a good man, and you’re going to do great things with this,” she gestured around. “You don’t have to prove anything to me.”

Her words, so simple and sincere, unraveled something in me. I didn’t deserve her faith, not with the secrets I was keeping, but in that moment, I wanted to believe her.

We stood there in the quiet, her gaze locked with mine, until the weight of...