Chapter 4: The Midnight Confession
The ride back to the mansion was silent. Marcus drove the limousine through the quiet streets of Chicago while Iris sat next to Nicholas in the back. He had closed his eyes, his head resting against the leather seat, exhausted from the physical and emotional toll of the evening.
When they arrived at the mansion, Iris helped him inside. The grand house felt incredibly empty, a mausoleum of marble and glass. She guided him into the living room, but as they reached the center of the room, Nicholas’s legs finally gave out entirely.
He slid down to the floor, sitting heavily against the base of the sofa. He didn't try to get up. He simply sat there, his shirt unbuttoned at the collar, breathing heavily, looking like a defeated warrior.
This was the moment. The moment Iris found him, helpless and stripped of his armor.
"I can't believe this is happening," Nicholas muttered, looking at his hands.
Iris stood over him, her heart pounding. She did what she always did. She stayed. She knelt beside him on the floor, her dress pooling around her.
Then, he made the request that sucked the air out of the room.
“Stay with me tonight,” he said, his dark eyes locking onto hers with absolute desperation. “Not as my maid. As the only person who chose to be here without me having to buy it.”
Iris did not move. The silence weighed like concrete. Her heart pounded so hard she was sure he could hear it. He looked at her as if that were the last thing he would ever ask for in his life.
"Nicholas..." she whispered, her voice trembling. "You don't have to buy my presence. I'm here because I want to be."
He let out a shaky breath, closing his eyes as a single tear escaped and slipped down his pale cheek. "Everyone else... my uncle, my ex-fiancée, the board... they only see the money. They only see the Valmont name. When the doctors told me I had an advanced, atypical neurological disorder six months ago, the first thing I thought wasn't about saving my life. It was about who would notice if I vanished."
Iris felt a painful tightening in her chest. "Nicholas, you're not going to vanish."
"The prognosis is grim, Iris. The doctors gave me a year, maybe less, if the experimental treatments fail," he confessed, opening his eyes to look at her. "I've been pushing everyone away because I didn't want them to see me rot. I didn't want their pity. But you... you never looked at me with pity. You looked at me like I was just a man. Even when you were mad at me, you treated me like a person."
Iris reached out, her fingers trembling as she took his shaking right hand in both of hers. She held it tightly, squeezing it to anchor him. "Because you are just a man, Nicholas. A stubborn, arrogant, incredibly brilliant man who thinks he has to carry the weight of the world alone."
Nicholas looked down at their joined hands. The tremor in his hand seemed to lessen under the warmth of her touch. "I'm scared, Iris," he admitted, the ultimate confession from a man who had never shown fear in his life. "I'm scared of dying alone in this giant house."
"You are not alone," Iris said fiercely, leaning closer until her forehead almost touched his. "I am right here. And I'm not going anywhere. We are going to face the board tomorrow, and then we are going to find a doctor who can fix this. I don't care how many specialists we have to fly in. You are not allowed to give up."
Nicholas looked at her lips, then up to her eyes. Slowly, deliberately, he leaned forward. The kiss was not born of lust, but of a deep, desperate need for connection. It was gentle, a tender bruising of lips that tasted of salt and hidden longings. Iris melted into it, her hands moving to his neck, holding him to her as if she could pull the illness out of his body and take it into her own.
When he pulled back, his breathing was deeper, a faint hint of color returning to his cheeks. "Stay," he whispered against her lips.
May you like
"Always," she replied.
That night, Iris did not return to her small staff quarters. She stayed by his side, watching over him as he finally fell into a deep, peaceful sleep, preparing for the battle that awaited them at dawn.
