Chapter 101

“Alita, what you have with Benson, it is genuine. Nothing I have ever seen. Whatever people say or think about it is on them and not you,” Luke said. His expression closed up and he spread his palm on his thigh. “Trust me, I know what it is like not being able to publicly express your love for someone because you are afraid of critics and naysayers. You can go mental,” he rubbed his forehead and sighed. “I get you but some people might not. It doesn’t matter—It doesn’t. What you have done to him was impossible before you showed up in his life. I have been with him for some years now and I can tell you he is a better person than he was. You slowed everything down from his fast living and now he sees more of life and people than did. If anybody thinks all that is fake and insincere, you are not to blame for their ignorance, he encouraged her.

“Where did all of that come from?” Alita clutched her chest, marveling at the words Luke said to her. It lifted some weight off her chest and gave