Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Mason found out that you were in Valencia, off-grid, with Rahi Gambhir. You two were working for Manticore."

Looking Carter dead in the eye, Nadia said, "I was never working for Manticore! I was in Valencia for me."

Kyle asks sounding awfully low, "So you weren't with whoever this Gambhir is?"

"Yes. Yes, I was. But not for Manticore. Never for Manticore."

For someone who had lost his memory years ago, Kyle was doing a hell of a job attempting to be a spy. He had no idea who Rahi Gambhir was, but he felt angry. Angry against who, he hadn't decided yet.

"You planned the attack against Citadel didn't you?" asked the resident rescuee.

Without missing a blink, Kyle/Mason's memory started to flash again. Nadia in red looking stunning, the train, the gunshots, and each of them saying to the other - "I lied to you."

Meanwhile, Nadia sighed and said, "You don't even know what you're asking."

"You were working against us then..."

"Nadia?" Kyle said.

"...and you are working against us now!" screamed Carter.

Kyle just breathed, "Nadia... what's in Valencia?" Flashes of "I need to tell you something" ring up in Kyle's mind. Starting to lose his cool he asked, "What was in Valencia?"

Having lost her last strand of patience, Nadia breathed "I have a daughter!" The structure of concrete surrounding them was acting as a speaker, echoing her 4 words again and again. Looking at both of the men in front of her, she said again loudly, "I have a daughter."

Carter breathed out with disbelief. Kyle froze. 

"I'm not a fucking insurgent. I had a child and I had to keep her a secret because that was the only way to keep her safe. I have a baby.” Nadia looked Kyle dead in the eye as if to say, “Any more questions?”

Carter asked, “Her?” 

“Yes, my daughter.” Reaching down to her jacket and unzipping it, she pulled out a small picture from her vest’s secret pocket and threw it on the car’s hood. Carter picked it up and then passed it on to Kyle to look at. 

“She’s beautiful,” he said. Nadia nodded in the affirmative.

“I called Rahi after I found out. He’s the one who got me out. He got me to Valencia and set me up over there so that I could be comfortable. Got me a small house, helped me out the whole time, kept me out of sight as best he could, called for a midwife, the whole thing.” Looking over at Carter, she said, “That was the hardest decision I could make at that time. But I never betrayed Citadel. Never!”

“Who has she been with? If you’re here?”

The woman did not respond, just pointedly looking at the techie.

“Damn it, Nadia! She’s with Rahi, isn’t she? He’s a career criminal, a terrorist.”

Face flushed with anger, Nadia said, “He’s my father, Carter!”

All three of them looked away, hoping to catch a breath. Nadia then continued, “And I have not been able to see her since she was six months old, eight years ago.”

Carter's face turned blue, his mind running at the speed of light - guilt, remorse, suspicion all racing through his head, whilst he saw a woman on the verge of breaking down in front of him. “Who’s the father? Your kid? She has to have a father, yes?”

Attempting to not meet her colleagues' eyes, Nadia said, “She’s my husband’s.”

Kyle now looked straight at her, not being able to process a word of what she said, “Husband? You’re married?!” All this while, the woman in red he yearned for was married? No. No, it couldn’t be. 

“Was. Was married. He’s gone.”

Carter prided himself on being able to get his hands on all kinds of information and yet not knowing anything about this was eating away at him. “What happened? Your husband?”

With a single tear making its way from her eyes, Nadia replied, “He’s dead. Died eight years ago.”

Carter not having lost his memory pieced it all together, nodded, and walked some meters away, as though anticipating what was coming next. That was when things started to clear up and fog up at the same time for Kyle. Not being able to control himself he asked with soft eyes, “Is she…?” (“mine” was a word his mouth couldn’t form.)

"Yes."

Kyle lost his mind and involuntarily started to pant. "Did I know?"

"No."

"Why not?" he breathed dejectedly.

Nadia yelled, "Because you didn't deserve to know." Taking a moment, she said, "Happy now, Carter? This is why I told you to not ask questions."

“You said that you and Mason. No. You and me, we were like a flash in a pan. Being married and having a child does not sound like a flash in a pan to me.” 

The woman breathed out in her falteringly confident voice, “What else was I supposed to say to a wild amnesiac? Useless idiot, flustering here and there, trying to piece parts together without even knowing where to start.  You didn’t know me, you could not recognize me, you had no memory of us. You forgot. What was I supposed to do!?” Her eyes went wide and mad.

Having had enough, Kyle walked over to Nadia, turned her round to face him and point-blank asked, "We have a daughter?" Nadia looked at him, resigned yet defiant, and replied, "No. I have a daughter. You don't. She's mine. Mine and my husband's."

"I am him."

Screaming out for the words to etch themselves on the walls, Nadia said, "No! You are not my husband. You are not Mason Kane. You're just Kyle Conroy. In no way are you my Mason!" No sooner did these words leave her mouth, did Nadia clap her hands to her face, as though trying to shove the words back in. 

“Your Mason? We really were married?” spelling out the words slowly. “Married?”

“Yes. This is why I told you to keep quiet. You shouldn’t know things. This is not some bullshit story.” She jerked away from his hold, and asked him, “When they pulled you out of the water, was there a ring? Did they retrieve a ring for you?”

Kyle/Mason just nodded. He couldn’t believe any of it. The woman in red was indeed married - to him.

Continuing, she asked, “There was an inscription on the back. Did you read it?”

“How do you know that?”

“Did. You. Read. It?”

“Yes. It said - M e N - oggi, stasera, domani e sempre. I had to look it up - it read something like M and N - today, tonight, tomorrow, and always.”

Smiling sadly, Nadia said, “That’s exactly what it means.”

Carter thought it best to intervene now before shit blows sky-high. “You two never updated your profiles. How long did this go on?”
Kyle/Mason mustered up the strength to sheepishly ask, “Tell me. Please. Tell me more. I need to know.”
“Why? Why do you need to know?”

“So that I can know how much of my life, of me, of you I’ve lost,” he replied. 

The three of them picked three sides of the car’s hood to lean against as Nadia brought back memories - pleasant and unpleasant.

“We started fooling around for a while after the Alborz mission. Went on our own missions after that. Like an on-and-off thing. It got serious about a year and 2 months after that. Then the whole fiasco with Celeste, we were sent on a job together. Our cover was a married couple,” pointing towards Kyle/Mason, she continued, “This genius then decided to go all out and bought a ring, tried to use it as Bernard’s cover ring - as a means to a proposal. An actual one. I thought you were messing with me. We had a fight. I walked and you chased. You made a very convincing argument. And I said yes. We splurged at Kilcollin’s after that. That’s where we got the rings. We eloped in Santorini.”

Flashes of a white dress in a blue dome church with flowers in Nadia’s hair ran their course through Kyle’s head. “Was it a white lace dress? With a flower in your hair?”

“You remember?” came a question in a voice full of hope.

“Not really. I get flashes. Nothing concrete told me that it was real. That you were real.”

Nadia nodded. What did she expect? That Mason would just randomly come back into his body, that Kyle would turn into her Mason by remembering all of a sudden?

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Sorry for not remembering…” Nadia opened her mouth but he held his hand to her mouth, shaking his head. “Let me finish. I am sorry. Really. Sorry for not being who you need, and for everything else I did before.” All Nadia did was nod, accepting her fate. Their fate.

Meanwhile, Carter looked deep in thought. Finally, he voiced, “You want to see her?” Nadia and Kyle/Mason turned their heads so fast, that it was almost a classic case of whiplash. 

“How,” they asked together.

“We could patch into your network at home if you have one?” Nadia nodded her head vigorously. “But first,” the techie continued, “we need to get out of this desert.” 

While they pulled into some passing of a civilization, Kyle/Mason pulled Carter aside. He asked if there was no other way of restoring his memory. He all but fell to his knees. Carter, at much resistance, fessed up that he had secretly developed a backend to access his memory safe, but it would only work if another agent shared access to their safe and his safe still existed.

Nadia called, “Got us a place. Safe, but not the Hilton. Are you coming?” They simply followed. A setup of two laptops was already ready for them. Nadia showed them to Carter who said he could make do with it and got to work. She tended to her injuries and winced when she started to sew up a wound on her shoulder. Kyle came in to help, swooping in with his dextrous hands to make an attempt at sewing. He gave her his jacket to put in her mouth, “Bite down on it,” he told her. She chuckled and proceeded to do as he said, “This is like a deja vu.” When he raised an eyebrow, she replied, “We’ve been in this situation before. The roles were switched, though.” He understood. She winced and grabbed a fistful of his torn shirt when he patched her up. 

 Kyle's hands were steady, his fingers gently holding a curved needle, threaded with delicate stitches. He focused intently on the task at hand, every movement deliberate and precise. The air was thick with the faint scent of antiseptic and the weight of unspoken words. Nadia winced as the needle pierced her skin, her jaw clenched to suppress a pained gasp. Her shoulder was a canvas of bruised flesh, a testament to the close call they had faced during their latest mission.

"Easy," Kyle murmured, his voice a soothing balm amidst the discomfort. "Yeah, you try easy when you're getting patched up by Dr. Fraud," she whispered back. His eyes never left the wound, but he could sense Nadia's discomfort in the tense set of her shoulders. He worked diligently, each stitch,  a promise to mend not only her flesh but also the frayed edges of their emotions.

Nadia's gaze drifted to him, softened by the dim light. It was him. Mason. But at the same time, it wasn't. It was just his hands, his face, his body. Until he gets his memory back (if he ever does), this person is just a replica of the man she loves. She watched his brow furrow in concentration, his lips forming a line of determination. "You have something to say?" He shook his head. The tenderness in his touch resonated through her, reminding her once again why she had fallen for him, despite being who they are.

A gust of wind rustled the trees outside, and the atmosphere in the cabin shifted. Their eyes locked, a silent understanding passing between them. In that moment, the world seemed to narrow, leaving only the two of them suspended in a fragile bubble of time.

Kyle's gaze dropped to Nadia's lips, a magnetic pull drawing him closer. He leaned in, his breath mingling with hers, their lips mere inches apart—

"Am I interrupting something?"

The voice shattered the enchantment like a glass dropped on the floor. Kyle jerked back, his heart pounding as he turned to see Carter leaning casually against the doorframe, a lopsided grin on his face.

Nadia's cheeks flushed with a mix of embarrassment and annoyance, and she shifted slightly, wincing as the movement tugged at her wound. "Carter, seriously?"

Carter's lips pursed, unrepentant. "Just making sure my favorite team members aren't getting too cozy without me. Plus, I got into the system. I just need your password Nadia, and we can see her. "

Kyle cleared his throat, his fingers absently tapping the needle against his palm. "We were... just finishing up here."

Carter winked playfully. "Well, don't let me stop you. I've always heard that physical contact aids in the healing process."

Nadia rolled her eyes, the tension dissipating into a resigned chuckle. "You're unbelievable."

Carter pushed himself off the doorframe, strolling closer. "I try my best."

As Carter joined them in the cabin, Kyle packed away the medical supplies, his earlier moment of vulnerability replaced by a mask of professionalism. Nadia shot him a fleeting apologetic smile, and he responded with a subtle nod, their unspoken connection understood. For a moment, Nadia recognized that smirk - the one that meant that she was in trouble, every time he looked at her out of her suit. Maybe her Mason was still buried under this replica

Amidst the banter and shrieking that followed, Nadia's password worked and they saw her. Asha. Her daughter. Mason's daughter. Their daughter. She was safely tucked away, sleeping in her room, holding a bear Kyle doesn't remember giving Nadia - one he won at a dumb fair. He couldn't help stealing glances at Nadia. She knew, but she had nothing to say to him. She couldn't, so she shut the system down after taking one last look at her kid and dad. The interruption had broken the spell, but it hadn't erased the almost-kiss from their shared history. 

And as the night deepened,  Kyle couldn't shake the feeling that their story was far from over. He needs to remember. For him. For his kid. And mostly, for her - Nadia. His Nadia. 

He walked up to Carter's sleeping body and woke him up. Carter pulled a knife on him before he made sense of what was going on. "What the hell, Conroy?!" He shushed him and beckoned him over to the cabin's hall. He spoke, " I need you to help me remember. Please. I need to." As the techie was about to break into his spell of why it was impossible, Kyle said, "I can get you access to Nadia's safe. Use that and help me. Please."

"How are you going to open her locker? It's hers. And it's locked."

"Her prints would work, yes?" When he figured it out from Carter's face, he said, "I have the prints. Use them." 

Both feeling uneasy about betraying Nadia's trust again, still managed to unlock her digital safe for Kyle. All was ready, into the wee hours of morning. Carter warned him, "You get one shot. This is the last copy of your memory. No do-overs, no redos. Don't fuck this up, Conroy." Kyle nodded in an affirmative. He needed to remember and this was his only shot. He sat still as he was getting wired up by Carter to their system.

"Ready?"

"Yeah. Now or never, right?"

Carter nodded and started the sequence. "For what it's worth, I hope you remember." 

"Me too Carter."

As Kyle's fingers danced over the holographic interface, he hesitated for a moment before pressing his palm against the surface of the digital cloud safe. The air hummed with a faint energy, and the device emitted a soft, pulsating light. Kyle's heart raced, a mixture of anticipation and trepidation coursing through his veins.

Images began to flicker in his mind like fragments of a forgotten dream slowly piecing themselves together. A rush of sensations flooded over him, the weight of a gun in his hand, the color of blood on his hands, the tension of a high-stakes operation, the adrenaline-laced thrill of danger. He gasped as flashes of memories cascaded through his consciousness.

He saw himself clad in a sleek black suit, a master of disguise, seamlessly blending into various scenarios. Explosions echoed in his ears, and faces of both allies and adversaries flashed before his eyes. The memories came rushing back with such intensity that he stumbled back, his hand leaving the surface of the device.

But amidst the chaos of espionage, one image remained crystalline. A pair of warm, hazel eyes that held a mixture of strength and vulnerability—the eyes of the woman he loved. Nadia. His wife.

"Nadia," he whispered her name, his voice cracking with emotion. He closed his eyes, allowing the memories to flood in like a tidal wave. He remembered their first meeting during a joint mission, the way they had effortlessly synced their movements as they took down a group of armed assailants. He recalled the late-night conversations, the lingerie suits, the getaways, the laughter they shared in the midst of danger, and the stolen glances that spoke volumes even when words weren't enough. Little did he know, Nadia stood right at the door watching it all unfold. She hoped. "Come back, Mason. Come back to me," she said in her head. And for the first time in years, Nadia prayed.

A single tear escaped from the corner of his eye as he let himself relive the moment he had proposed to her, a quiet, violent, and intimate declaration amidst the chaos of their lives. He remembered the joy in her eyes, the way her lips trembled before she said yes. And he remembered the love that had grown between them, a love that had transcended the boundaries of their dangerous profession.

With a renewed determination, Kyle placed his hand back on the digital cloud safe. The memories continued to flood in, filling in the gaps of his lost years. His betrayal, her hurt, Citadel's downfall, his guilt, his kid, his wife. He remembered the missions they had undertaken together, the sacrifices they had made, and the battles they had fought, not only against external threats but also against their own doubts and fears.

As the memories settled, Kyle opened his eyes, a fierce resolve burning within him. He now remembered who he was—a secret agent, a skilled operative, and a husband who loved his wife beyond measure. With Nadia by his side, he knew they could face anything that came their way.

And so, with his memories restored, Kyle's lips curled into a determined smile. He turned, his gaze fixated on the door. He was ready to reunite with Nadia, to remind her of the love they shared and the life they had built together, and the shitstorm they made. 

He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was her. Nadia. 

Carter asked, "Mason? Mason, can you hear me?" He could. He chose not to respond. He wouldn't until he had her back.

There she was, standing across the room, her gaze locked onto his. Her raven-black hair cascaded over her shoulders, framing a face that held a mixture of hope and uncertainty. She looked just as he remembered, and yet, there was a depth of emotion in her eyes that he could now fully appreciate.

Without hesitation, he started walking toward her, his heart pounding in his chest. The distance between them seemed to shrink with each step, until finally, he was standing before her. Their eyes locked, and in that moment, the years that had been stolen from them ceased to exist.

"Mason?" Her voice trembled, a mixture of disbelief and hope.

He reached out, his hand cupping her cheek, his touch gentle yet possessing an urgency that words couldn't convey. "Nadia," he breathed, his voice cracking with emotion.

And then, without another word, he leaned in, capturing her lips in a kiss that was both a rekindling of lost time and a promise of a future together. The kiss was a blend of passion, longing, and the unspoken words that they had carried in their hearts during the years of separation.

Tears welled up in Nadia's eyes as they finally broke the kiss, their foreheads resting against each other. "You remember?" she whispered, her voice a mix of joy and wonder.

He smirked and smiled, a radiant expression that carried all the weight of his regained memories. "I remember everything, Nadia. And I remember you. I remember, love."

She let out a choked laugh, a mixture of relief and overwhelming happiness. "I've missed you for so long."

"I'm here now," he said, his thumb wiping away a tear that had escaped down her cheek. "And I'm not letting go. Not again."

Hand in hand, they stood there, the world around them fading into insignificance. 

And as they stood there, wrapped in each other's arms, the years of separation melted away, and the power of them; the one that proved stronger than any force that had tried to tear them apart.

Chapter Text

Mason stared at Nadia, his breath uneven, his hands still ghosting over the sides of her face. Her lips, swollen from their kiss, trembled as she processed the weight of his words.

"I remember everything, Nadia."

Everything. The love, the fights, the betrayals, the years lost, the daughter they shared—the one she had kept from him. And how he had known. He had known where she was, had watched from a distance, had seen glimpses of the life she lived without him. But he never came for her. He couldn't. And sure as hell, he couldn't or wouldn't tell her why.

Her eyes darkened like storm clouds gathering before a hurricane. He could see it in the way her body stiffened, the way her jaw clenched, the way she took a step back as though bracing herself for an impact she refused to show.

He didn’t let her. He wouldn’t let her.

“Nadia,” his voice was quiet but firm, a desperate kind of pleading laced within. “Let me see her.”

Nadia flinched.

“No.”

A thick silence stretched between them, and Mason could feel the tension coil like a vice around his ribs. He took a step forward, but she put up a hand. “Don’t.”

His patience snapped. “You don’t get to decide that!”

Nadia let out a humorless laugh. “The hell I don’t.” She stepped closer now, a new kind of fury taking over. “Where were you when I needed you? Where were you when I was bleeding out in a dingy apartment, praying that I’d make it through the night because I wasn’t sure if I would? Where the fuck were you, Mason?”

His fists clenched at his sides. “I didn’t choose this, Nadia!”

Her laugh was bitter. “No, but you sure as hell made choices that led to it.”

“That’s not fair,” he hissed.

“Fair?” she echoed, voice sharp enough to cut through glass. “Fair was me being abandoned while I carried our child. Fair was having to erase myself from every system, every contact, every fucking shadow of my past to keep her safe. Fair was knowing that if anyone found out about her, she’d be used as leverage. That was fair. Do you have any idea what that felt like?”

He inhaled deeply, trying to control the storm rising inside him. “I would have been there,” he gritted out. “You know I would have been.”

“Would you?” she challenged, stepping closer until they were almost chest-to-chest. “Would you, Mason? Because from where I’m standing, you were always choosing something else. The mission. The agency. The lies. I was second. What about us? I wasn’t even a choice to you in the end.”

“That’s not true.” Mason tried to come closer and hold her hand. "You know it's not."

“Then where were you?” she said, pushing him away.

Her words hit like a gunshot to the chest. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Because deep down, buried under layers of guilt and fractured memories, he knew there was some truth to what she was saying.

Her hands moved so fast he almost didn’t see it coming. A sharp slap cracked through the air, his face snapping sideways from the impact. His jaw stung, but he barely registered the pain. When he turned back to face her, she was breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling, her eyes wild with something between rage and heartbreak.

“I hate you for making me leave,” she whispered, voice shaking. “And I hate you even more because you didn’t try to stop me.” She beat his chest, straight in the center. "You didn't even try."

She hit him again, her fists pressing into him, the anger bubbling over into something physical, something raw. Again and again, her fists pounded against his front. “I waited, Mason. Do you get that? I fucking waited! For months. And you never came.”

He let her push him, shove him, hit him because he deserved every ounce of it.

“You never called. You never even looked for me,” she spat. “After everything we were, after everything we had—how could you just let me go?”

He couldn't tell her the truth. How he knew exactly where she was, how she was, and why he didn't come get her. So he played along. Mason caught her wrists mid-strike, gripping them just hard enough to make her stop. “You think I didn’t want to?” His voice was low now, but no less intense. “You think I didn’t spend every goddamn second of my life after you left wondering if I should track you down, drag you back, beg you to stay?”

Nadia shook her head, but he grabbed her wrist, gently but firmly, forcing her to listen. “But I knew you. I knew that if I chased you, you’d never stop running. You needed space, Nadia. You needed time. I just—” he exhaled sharply, shaking his head. “I just never thought you’d disappear completely.”

She wrenched her hand free. “That’s such bullshit.”

“It’s not,” he snapped. “You told me you were done. You told me we were done. You left me there. And you know what? Maybe a better man would have fought for you anyway. But I was so fucking tired, Nadia. Tired of all the secrets, tired of wondering when the next time would be that I’d wake up and find you gone.”

A bitter smile curled on her lips. “And now you know how it felt.”

Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating. Then Mason let out a sharp breath, raking a hand through his hair before pinning her with a look so intense it sent a shiver down her spine. "Is there someone else?" he asked, voice tight, almost hoarse.

Nadia's jaw clenched. "No."

His lips parted slightly, something flickering in his gaze. Hope? Doubt? She didn't know. "Then why does it feel like it?"

She let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "Because it’s none of your goddamn business, Mason. You were busy playing house with a brand-new family when you forgot me. I didn't say anything. So don’t stand here acting like you have a right to ask me that."

Mason’s expression hardened. "It was never a choice. You think I would have forgotten you on purpose? You think I would have built a life with someone else if I had any say in it?" He tried to level her with a look, and raised her chin to meet his eyes, "You didn't say anything - was that sympathy for my ass of a mind, or were you going to let me walk away?" She wouldn't answer.

Nadia’s throat tightened, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her falter. "It doesn’t change the fact that you did. And I get to live with that." She swallowed hard, lifting her chin. "Just like I lived with every single choice you made that led us here. Just like I lived with knowing you never fought for me. You let me walk away, Mason. And that? That was the one thing you never forgot how to do."

6000 thoughts were running in his head; they needed to be held. His breath came out slow, controlled, but something was simmering beneath the surface, something dangerous - jealousy. "If I can’t have you, no one can."

Her breath hitched and she looked at him wildly. "Excuse me?"

Mason took a step closer, voice like steel wrapped in velvet. "You heard me. No one else. No one else gets to have you."

She narrowed her eyes, every muscle in her body coiled tight. "That’s not your call to make."

He just smirked, the ghost of something wicked curling at the corner of his lips. "Isn't it? We're still married," he said pointing to her ring.

"Remind me to file for a divorce when we get through this shitshow."

His voice was lower this time, darker, but unwavering. “If I can’t have you, no one can.”

Mason’s breath hitched, his fists clenching at his sides as he forced himself to stay still. Her eyes darkened, sharp with fury, but beneath it was something else—something raw and splintered. "Excuse me?" she whispered, voice dangerously low, the kind that signaled an impending storm.

Mason took a step forward, his gaze burning into hers. “I mean it,” he said, voice smooth but laced with something more dangerous. “No one else. No one else gets to touch you. No one else gets to know you the way I do.”

Her pulse pounded at the base of her throat, but she refused to back down. “You don’t get to say that. You don’t get to come back after all these years and pretend like you have a claim on me.”

“I do,” he said simply, tilting his head. “You and I both know it.”

She shoved him hard, but he didn’t stumble. He just stood there, watching her with that knowing expression, like he could see straight through every layer of armor she had put up. Like he had already won this fight before it even started.

Her breath was shallow and uneven. “I moved on.”

“No, you didn’t.” His voice was infuriatingly calm. “You never do, Nadia. Not from me.”

Her lips parted, but no words came out. Because he was right. And they both knew it.

"This sounds like a you problem. I'm done with you Mason Kane," she replied, lying through her teeth.

He took a step back, running a hand through his hair, suddenly looking like he was just as wrecked by all of this as she was. “I remember everything, Nadia. And I remember you. I want to fix this. You tell me—what the hell do I do now?”

Her expression flickered, something almost unreadable passing through her gaze before she shut it down. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

He nodded once, stepping back. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, and for the first time since regaining his memories, he felt lost.

Nadia turned away first, her back to him, her shoulders stiff with tension. Mason could see the way her fingers trembled slightly, how tightly she held herself together, like if she let go for even a second, she might break apart completely.

“I need air,” she muttered, pushing past him towards the door. The moment she was gone, the air seemed to rush back into the room, thick with everything unsaid.

Mason exhaled slowly, pressing his palms against the table. His mind was racing, his heart still hammering against his ribs.

Outside, Nadia leaned against the wall, taking deep, steadying breaths. Her hands curled into fists as she shut her eyes.

She had been waiting for this moment for years. And now that it was here, she had no idea what the hell to do with it.

From inside the cabin, Mason’s voice was barely above a whisper, but she heard it anyway.

“Fuck.”

It wasn’t over.

Not even close.