"You’re everything, Hale. Because you're good and fair and kind, even when you don't think you are. Because when I look at you? I see the kind of person worthy of my time and attention, knowing you would never bother to accept it unless you thought it was earned." He shakes his head slowly, his gaze finally meeting mine. "And you do. You have. You are. Everyone else only ever wants something from me. The money, the power, the connections. The status. No one ever wants me. Until you."
