My voice was barely there now.
Soft. Fragile. Honest in a way I hadn’t planned.
“You’re different from everyone,” I whispered.
Karl didn’t move, but I felt his attention sharpen.
“My ex…” I swallowed. “Once, when I shouted because of lightning—there were people around. A crowd.”
My fingers tightened around his pinky without realizing it.
“He shook me. Hard. And said I was weak.”
The rain kept falling, steady and gentle, like it was listening.
“I’m not weak,” I said quietly, more to myself than to him.
“But he made me feel like I was.”
I turned my face slightly toward karl, fear slipping back into my chest.
“Well… you’re not like him,” I continued. “I wish you’ll never hit me.”
My voice cracked.
“Please… never do that. I’m really scared.”
For a long moment, karl said nothing.
Then—slowly—he turned onto his side, facing me fully. The storm lit his face in brief flashes, but his eyes stayed steady, focused only on me.
He lifted our joined hands and gently pressed his forehead to my knuckles.
“I will never hit you,” he said.
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
Absolute.
“I don’t raise my hands on women,” he continued, voice low and controlled. “And I don’t touch fear with violence.”
Another thunderclap echoed, softer now.
“If I ever lose control,” he added, “I will walk away before I hurt you. That’s not a promise made from love.”
He met my eyes.
“It’s made from respect.”
Tears slid silently down my temples.
“You don’t have to be strong with me,” he said. “You don’t have to prove anything. Lightning doesn’t make you weak. Fear doesn’t make you small.”
His thumb brushed my pinky—barely there.
“It means you’re human.”
I breathed out shakily. “You swear?”
Karl didn’t hesitate.
“On my life,” he said. “And on yours—which matters more to me.”
The rain softened even further, like the storm was finally tired.
I closed my eyes, still holding his finger.
For the first time in a long time, fear didn’t feel like something I had to survive alone.
And karl Casanova—
the man the world feared—
lay beside me, guarding a promise instead of a cage.
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