I stared at him, the pieces of the puzzle slowly falling into place.

“If anyone finds out,” I said, “you lose everything.”

“Yes,” Nathan said. “Eleanor would lose her allowance, her standing, her home. Everything she spent her life protecting.”

“And you?” I asked.

“I would be out of the company by tomorrow morning,” he said.

He stepped closer to me, his boots clicking on the stone.

He reached out and took both of my hands in his.

“But I don’t care about that anymore, Emily,” he said, his voice fierce.

“Nathan, you’ve worked your whole life for that company,” I said, trying to pull my hands away.

“I worked for a lie,” he said, holding on tighter. “I worked to please a woman who only saw me as a pawn to keep her money.”

He looked down at our joined hands, his thumb tracing the back of my knuckles.

“When I met you, everything changed,” he said. “You saved your siblings. You gave up everything for them.”

“That was different,” I said. “They are my family.”

“You are my family now,” Nathan said, looking straight into my eyes.