Louis' POV
I remember promising Alistair some things before leaving for Elhurst, and now that I was back, I intended to fulfill them.
No more secrets — that was the first promise.
He deserved honesty after everything I'd put him through.
The second was simpler, at least in words — a whole week together. No meetings, no phone calls, no late nights in the study pretending paperwork mattered more than he did. Just us.
And the last was gifts. Little things — things that reminded him he was seen. A watch he once pointed at in a store window, a book he'd mentioned wanting but never bought. I'd made a list.
At the time, I really believed I could make things right with effort — that love was something you could rebuild brick by brick if you only worked hard enough.
But standing at the doorway now, watching him sit quietly on the couch with that distant look in his eyes, I realized something I hadn't wanted to admit.
Maybe I was too late.
