“Live quietly.Blend into the tapestry of this city,” Amir said, each syllable resolute.“And should I find a way, I will come to you.But without a pattern.Without expectation.Our encounters must remain cloaked in secrecy—for both our sakes.”
“Amir…” I reached for him, my fingers trembling as they brushed against the coarse fabric of his sleeve, trying to anchor myself in him.Could I truly accept this life?A life of fleeting shadows and stolen moments?
“Promise me you will endure, Elizabeth,” he whispered, drawing me close, pressing a kiss to my forehead—a benediction, a plea, a goodbye all at once.“For us.For our child.For the future, we dare to dream.”
He rose, leaving a chill in his absence.His footsteps echoed in the chamber, back and forth, a metronome counting down the seconds we had left.
Our son lay curled in sleep in the corner, peaceful and unaware.His breaths were soft and even, a fragile rhythm of life in a world that teetered on the edge of war.
Then Amir stilled.When it came, his voice was heavy—each word a weight that crushed the air around us.
“Elizabeth… our son must never know about me.”
The room spun.
I stood, stunned as if the ground had been yanked from beneath me.“What?No!”I stepped forward, my voice breaking, refusing to accept the sentence he had just laid before me.
“Our son must never know about me,” Amir repeated, quieter this time but with a finality that pierced my heart.“Make up a story about our affair.Let him believe I abandoned you.Let him hate me.If you must.”
My breath hitched, the protest clawing up my throat.“Amir, I can’t… I can’t do that.”To deny Roman his father—to bury this love, this truth—it was a betrayal I couldn’t fathom.
“You must.”Amir’s eyes locked on mine, filled with sorrow and torment—yet unwavering.“He must despise me.It will prepare him for his destiny.”
“I can’t do this!”I shot back, my voice breaking under the weight of anguish.“I’m proud of what we created.”The thought of tainting our love with lies—turning it into something shameful, something forsaken—was more painful than any wound.
“I’m sorry,” Amir whispered, the words like glass underfoot, his voice thick with pain.“But it must be this way.”
My gaze faltered, unable to hold his any longer.The room seemed to shrink, the walls pressing in, whispering secrets of heartache and sacrifice, of all that was being lost.
“Amir… I love you.So much.”My voice trembled, a fragile thread in the silence.“Knowing you’re watching over me—it takes away the pain.But how—how can I do this to our son?”
His expression shattered me—his pain a mirror to my own, as though we were both torn apart by the same cruel hand.
“You must tell him a story,” Amir urged, his voice fierce with desperation.“Say I used you.Betrayed you.Let him hate me.”He swallowed hard.“I will always be with you—but in the shadows.”
The weight of his words crushed me, a burden too great, yet I could not cast it off.
“Lazarus will punish me if he knows I’m here,” Amir continued, his voice darkening with urgency.“And Salvatore must never find you.I cannot risk your life, Elizabeth—not for anything.I love you too much.And that means… forcing a chasm between me and my son.”
Tears blurred my vision, burning hot as reality cemented itself into me, leaving no room for denial.Amir’s love—a fortress, immovable and fierce—now stood as a wall between us, protecting and shielding me but never allowing me close.
“Promise me, Elizabeth.”He stepped forward, his hand rising to cup my cheek, his touch a flicker of warmth in the cold desolation of this moment.His thumb brushed away a tear, his eyes seeking mine.“Promise me you’ll do this.For him.For us.”
In his touch, I found the strength I thought I’d lost.I nodded—a small, trembling motion—yet it sealed a pact that would alter the course of our lives forever.
“Promise me,” Amir repeated, his voice heavy with deep sorrow; it seemed to hollow the air between us.“You will embrace the ordinary, the mundane.I will provide for you from the shadows.Steal moments when I can.But Roman… he must never know.”
The world I had just begun to rebuild shattered again, each jagged shard a cruel reminder of the impossible path before us.My heart fractured, the pain unfathomable—yet within it, my resolve hardened like steel forged in fire.
“I will do whatever it takes,” I whispered, my voice brittle with unshed tears.“But this… this will break me.”
Amir’s gaze held mine, unwavering, fierce, a lifeline in the storm of my despair.“No, Elizabeth.You are the strongest woman I know.”
His faith wrapped around me, a shield against the crushing weight of sacrifice.
Before I could speak, before I could drown in the ache, Amir closed the distance between us.His arms enveloped me, drawing me into the eye of the storm, where only we existed.“Gods, how I have wanted to do this for so long,” he breathed against my hair, his lips brushing my temple, igniting a fire in my soul.
To be in his arms was serenity, a fleeting sanctuary from the war outside and within.
