I stared at him.
“I didn’t expect to feel what I felt,” he continued, his voice breaking. “I expected you to leave within a month. Or to become cruel, like the others. Instead, every day, you proved me wrong. You fed me with patience. You defended me in front of a room full of people who despised me. You cried in your room at night, and still brought me tea in the morning.”
His hands were shaking.
“I have watched you for a year, Clara. And every night, I wanted to tell you the truth. But I was a coward. Because I knew that once I did, I might lose you.”
A tear slid down my cheek.
“And now?” I asked.
“Now it’s the anniversary. The contract is done. You are free.” He reached into his pocket and drew out a folded document. “This is the annulment. Signed. Your father’s debt is forgiven, unconditionally, regardless of what you choose. You owe me nothing. If you want to walk out that door, you may. I will never come after you.”
He placed the paper on the carpet between us.
“But if there is any chance,” he whispered, “any chance at all that what you’ve shown me was real… then I’d like to ask you something I should have asked a year ago.”
He took my trembling hand.
“Clara Hale. Not as a debt. Not as a contract. Not as an experiment.
Will you stay?”
PART 7: THE TRUTH & THE RECOVERY
I did not answer right away.
