Zo moved across the room in two strides, his long arms catching her before she could hit the linoleum floor. His hands gripped her shoulders, firm and steady, holding her upright against his chest.
“Steady,” he murmured, his voice softer than she had ever heard it. “I’ve got you.”
Tessa grabbed the lapels of his cashmere coat, her fingers digging into the expensive wool as wracking sobs tore through her body. She didn’t mean to lean against him, didn’t mean to cry against the pristine fabric of a man whose world was so far above hers it felt like another planet, but she had been carrying the weight of the sky for an entire year with nobody to share the load. To have that suffocating, crushing weight suddenly lifted off her back was too much for her exhausted body to endure.
“Thank you,” she wept, her voice muffled against his chest. “Thank you… oh God, thank you…”
Zo did not pull away. He held her firmly, his large hand resting against the middle of her back, offering an immovable pillar of strength in the drafty, dilapidated apartment.
Over her shoulder, Zo caught the eyes of Toby and Leo.
Leo was smiling, a small, tentative grin breaking across his face as he realized the bad man with the loud voice was never coming back. But Toby remained serious. The ten-year-old stepped out of the bedroom, walked slowly over to where Zo stood holding his weeping sister, and stopped two feet away.
Toby looked at the cashmere coat, then up into Zo’s eyes.
“What about tomorrow at eleven?” Toby asked, his young voice carrying the razor-sharp anxiety of a child who had grown up too fast. “The lady with the clipboard. Miss Howard from the state. She doesn’t care who owns the building. She cares that the fridge is empty and the radiators don’t work. What happens when she comes to take us?”
Zo looked down at the boy, admiring the fierce, unyielding protectiveness that mirrored his own.
“Toby,” Zo said, his tone carrying the full weight of an unbreakable promise, “the lady with the clipboard is going to find this apartment empty.”
Tessa froze. She lifted her tear-stained face from his chest, her eyes wide with sudden panic. “Empty? What do you mean empty? If we’re not here, they’ll issue an emergency warrant—”
“You’re not running, Tessa,” Zo interrupted, looking down into her hazel eyes with an intensity that made her breath stall in her lungs. “You’re moving.”
“Moving? Where?”
“To the carriage house on the northern grounds of my estate,” Zo stated calmly. “It has three bedrooms, full radiant floor heating, a stocked pantry, and a private yard. It is within the boundaries of the top school district in Illinois. My legal team will file the change of primary residence with the family court by seven tomorrow morning, naming you as the head of household with full corporate residential sponsorship.”
Tessa shook her head, dizzy, unable to comprehend the scale of what he was saying. “Mr. Rossi, that’s… that’s too much. I’m a maid. I clean your floors! I can’t live on your estate like a guest—”
“You won’t be living like a guest,” Zo said, his voice dropping low, his eyes searching hers with a depth of emotion he couldn’t entirely conceal. “You’ll be living like someone who belongs there. Frank is waiting downstairs. Pack whatever clothes and personal items you cannot replace. We leave in twenty minutes.”
He stepped back, releasing her shoulders, giving her room to breathe.
“Pack light, Tessa,” Zo added, glancing at the worn-out sneakers on her feet and the drafty, cracked window behind her. “Because you’re never coming back to this cold place again.”
