Em felt the echo of her footsteps across the cold rooftop, her heart hammering in her chest as the inspectors rifled through papers and examined the garden she’d poured herself into. Petals bruised under boots. A city official eyed her plans with grudging admiration and irritation, lips pursed. “It’s beautiful, but it’s illegal,” he finally muttered, sliding the drawing across the table between them.

She felt Theo behind her, his silent presence like a storm gathering heat. His hand fell gently on her lower back, thumb feathering her spine. “She did it for everyone,” he said—voice steady, eyes locked with hers when she turned, promising solidarity no matter the cost.

Her lips trembled as she signed the violation form, humiliation flaring in her cheeks. But Theo’s hand caught hers as she tried to leave, rough fingers threading with hers, grounding her. He turned her to face him as the others cleared out, and the world seemed to fall away, their breath forming clouds in the city night.

“Don’t let them take it from you,” Theo whispered, his voice cracked with everything he’d fought to say. “Let them build their steel. You built this for yourself.”

She felt a tear slip down her cheek. “I’m so tired, Theo. I wanted it to mean something.”

He brushed his thumb under her eye, breathing her in, his voice raw. “You mean everything.” He pressed his mouth to hers—slow, tender—until she opened under him, kissing him back with every ache and hope that had bound her to this place.

He scooped her into his arms, carrying her through tangled vines and laughter, dizzy, half-sobbing, into the heart of the garden’s hidden shadows. There, under the cold blue stare of the city, he laid her down in the cradle of green, his hands shaking as he undid the buttons of her shirt. “Em,” he whispered, forehead pressed to hers, “we don’t have to—”

She silenced him with another kiss, urgent now, hands digging into his hair as she tugged him close, legs wrapping around his waist. He slid inside her with a gasp, slow at first, then desperate, their bodies rising and falling in time with their racing hearts. She anchored herself in the press of his hands, the scrape of stubble against her jaw, the quiet, shattered sounds as pleasure crested, everything else falling away except the two of them—lost and found in the space they’d carved for themselves above the city.

After, tangled together, she ran fingertips up his spine as he pressed trembling kisses to her bare shoulder, still inside her, unwilling to let go, their breaths mingling with the scent of earth and sweat. “I love you,” she said softly, and he closed his eyes, agony and hope furrowing his brow.

“I want forever,” he breathed, voice barely more than a plea, unguarded, aching.

But beneath their whispered promises, reality surged—a distant crash of steel and shouts from the street below. They dressed in silence, clinging to each second. He reached for her hand, but she shook her head, a question in her gaze. “I need to know who I am when this is over,” she murmured, searching his eyes for understanding.

Theo nodded, heartbreak clear, but let her go.

Across the site, Lexie stood at the edge of the now-safe crane, hands trembling as Dean approached, his expression open and unguarded, fear plain but not running. The gossip had faded, the shame lingering, but Dean took her hand anyway, pulling her up beside him as city lights spilled out beneath them like spilled jewelry.

Lexie leaned into his shoulder, exhaling shaky relief. “All my secrets are out,” she confessed, voice thin. “Feels like there’s nothing left.”

Dean smiled, small and wounded but real. “Then we get to start fresh.” He kissed her, gentle and slow, a promise of something fragile, something less than perfect but truer than anything she’d known.

As dawn broke, Em watched the city change—her garden bruised but alive, her body still thrumming with the memory of Theo’s hands. She didn’t know what waited for her below, only that for one night she had claimed her piece of sky. Below, Lexie and Dean stood together, hands clasped, daring the sun to rise on something new.