Page 48 of Cipher's Baby Girl

"What are you thinking?" he asks.

"About us," I admit, turning to face him fully. "About how far we've come."

He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his eyes serious. “You don’t regret it, do you? Staying with me, having our son, living this MC life?"

The question would surprise me if I didn't know him so well. Beneath his strength, beneath his certainty, there remains that wounded boy who was taught he was too different to deserve love.

"Never," I say firmly, holding his gaze so he can see the truth there. "Not for a single second."

Through the baby monitor, Lucas stirs, making the soft, snuffling sounds that precede waking. Cipher smiles—that rare, full smile that transforms his face and still makes my heart race.

"Duty calls," he says, pressing a kiss to my forehead before rising to pull on his boxers. "I'll get him."

I watch as he moves toward the door, this dangerous man who kills without remorse to protect what's his, but who also changes stinky diapers without complaint and sings lullabies in his rough voice when he thinks no one can hear.

"Cipher," I call softly. He pauses, looking back at me with a raised eyebrow. "I love you. All of you."

Something tender and fierce passes over his face. "And I love you, Baby Girl. Until my last breath."

As he disappears down the hall toward our son's room, I stretch luxuriously in our bed, content in a way I never imagined possible. From a burden to a cherished partner and mother. From invisible to essential. From survival to truly living.

Outside, the party continues. Inside, we've built our sanctuary—not perfect, sometimes messy, occasionally complicated by the realities of club life and our respective wounds. But it's ours. It's real.

And for a girl who once believed she'd never escape her prison, who once thought freedom was just a dream—it's everything.

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