His jaw tightened. “My entire life, anything I loved became leverage. My father died because he trusted the wrong person. My mother spent twelve years moving between guarded houses until she forgot what an unlocked door felt like.”

“That doesn’t give you the right to lock mine.”

“No.” The answer came without argument.

Chloe looked at him. Leo lowered his voice. “I don’t know how to care about something without protecting it. And I don’t know how to protect something without controlling every possible threat.”

“I’m not something.”

“No,” he said. “You are the first person who has ever made me understand the difference.”