Chapter 90

(Mike’s POV).

“You aren’t mad at me? For not telling you about my visit to my father’s?”

Emily’s question pulled me out of my thoughts, her voice soft yet searching as she looked up at me. I couldn’t help but smile as I shook my head, reaching to touch her cheek, letting my thumb trace the gentle curve there.

Her expression held a touch of worry, but I could see something deeper beneath it—trust, maybe. A need for reassurance that ran deeper than the question she’d just asked.

“Not at all,” I murmured, my voice low.

Jimmy had told me she’d visited him, and, of course, I knew that meant Ben had been around. It wasn’t exactly a thought I enjoyed. There was still a part of me, small but insistent, that flared with jealousy, picturing Emily in the same space as him. But I wasn’t about to let that ruin this moment. I trusted her.

She tilted her face up, catching my gaze with her eyes, which sparkled with a warmth that made everything else fade away.

I lifted her chin gently, leaning do