Page 85 of Cocky August Rake

He had offered her the world. Foreign ports. Open seas. A life beyond London and anything she had ever dared imagine.

Freedom. Affection. Him.

She wanted all of it so badly it hurt.

But wanting and needing weren’t the same.

And she needed The Domus. A need that went much deeper than habit or fear.

Before The Domus, Rose had had nothing that belonged to her. Not even her own body. Every decision had been made by hunger, cold, or whichever person held power over her that day.

There had been no future. Only the next meal. The next night. The next danger she had to survive.

People who had always slept behind locked doors could not understand how narrow the line could be between living and dying.

Rose had lived on that line once.

She had survived because of The Domus.

And now she would have to find some way to survive without it again. Reginald had made that clear.

He had promised money. Assistance. Time to make other arrangements.

But whenever Rose tried to imagine what those arrangements might be—where she would go, how she would live, who she would become without this place—her thoughts simply stopped.

Panic rose too quickly. Too sharply.

The closure of The Domus would not merely mean losing her home and her livelihood. It would mean facing everything The Domus had saved her from—the streets, the hunger, and most of all the knowledge that she’d once again be all alone.

Despite all of Lord Reginald’s arrangements.

She was warring with the logic of that when Nell found her.

“You think you have failed,” Nell said.

Rose looked up from the book she had been staring at without reading.

Nell closed the door behind her. “That’s because you are, in fact, very, very close to succeeding.” The kindness in her voice undid what remained of Rose’s control.

“I wish I could believe that. But he’s already decided.” She tossed the book aside. “I tried, Nell. I tried to make him understand, but he isn’t going to change his mind.”

She told Nell everything. His offer. His promise to wait until the month ended. The terrible certainty in his voice when he said the only decision remaining would be hers.

“I’m sorry.” Rose pressed trembling fingers to her lips. “I’m so sorry, Nell. I couldn’t save it.”

For a moment, Nell said nothing.

Rose lowered her hand, bracing herself for anger—or worse, defeat. But Nell’s expression held neither.

“It isn’t over,” she said.

“He’s made his decision.”

“He believes he has.” A fierce light entered Nell’s eyes. “This is a test.”

Rose went still.

“Tomorrow is the thirty-first,” Nell continued. “You must go to him tonight.”