Page 84 of Ranger's Wildflower

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“You.”

My breath catches.

“Me?”

“He’s not done,” Ace says. “And guys like him don’t play fair when they start losing control.”

My chest tightens.

“I figured.”

“But you’re not the same person you were seven years ago,” he adds.

I look down at my hands.

“I don’t feel any different.”

“That’s because you’ve been surviving,” he says. “Not fighting.”

The words hit deep.

True.

“And now?” I ask.

His expression shifts.

Stronger.

“You fight.”

Silence settles.

But it’s not uncomfortable.

It’s building.

I set my plate aside.

“I don’t know how,” I admit.

“You don’t have to know everything,” he says. “You just have to decide you’re done letting him win.”

That—

That I understand.

I look at him.

“You’re not walking away from this.”

“No.”

Something inside me steadies.

“Even if it gets worse?”

“It will,” he says honestly.

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