Julian raised an eyebrow, a smile playing at his lips.

“Was he?” “Leaving me was the smartest thing he ever did,” I said, squeezing his fingers.

“Because if he hadn’t walked away, I might have spent twenty years shrinking myself to fit inside his small, fragile world.

I never would have met you.

I never would have adopted Emma.

I never would have discovered who I actually was.” Marcus had believed he was abandoning a victim in the ruins of a broken marriage.

He had no idea that he was simply stepping out of the way, and holding the door, so that I could walk through it and build an empire.