Epilogue

epilogue

Nevaeh

The police receive an anonymous tip three days after Ilya left with Jacob Yancey. On day four, the suspected remains of Arianna Newfield are uncovered near a hand-crafted and illegal cabin in the deep woods by a forensic team. Thanks to a connection Cash’s father has in the force, we’re made aware that the remains of more than one woman have been uncovered, and the team is still digging.

Ilya told Kane, as per my instruction, Jacob will be kept alive until confirmation that Arianna’s remains has been found and given to her parents for proper resting. I shouldn’t have seen it, but I peeked at the message while Kane was in the shower, so I know that until that confirmation is had, Jacob’s days are filled with the ruthless torture of Ilya’s cold soul.

We’re on day six now, and thanks to Cash’s father’s connection, we’ve been made aware that the forensic team has now uncovered eleven bodies—all killed within the last three years.

I realize as I come into this information how truly lucky, I am to have gotten away from Jacob Yancey once his attention had been turned on me. If I hadn’t ran into Kane that night in the club, my life could have been cut very, very short. The idea of the grief that would have swept through my family, destroying it—I can’t imagine.

It shakes me to the core.

Knowing that Jacob forced eleven and counting families to endure that very fate enrages me.

So, knowing that Jacob is being tortured every minute of every day he lives gives me no moment of pause. When that prickly, ridiculous conscious of mine decides to creep in, I simply remind myself of Ilya’s words. There’s always hypocrisy in justice, and I leave it at that.

Should I have insisted Jacob Yancey be turned over to the proper authorities? Probably.

Does that mean I’m going to demand that be done? Absolutely not.

I’m human with faults. Apparently, this is one of mine. Because that man deserves to suffer, and suffer he is at Ilya’s talented hands.

What he does not deserve is a prison cell, a full belly, and the chance to see old age. No.

Stirring the creamy butternut squash and apple soup, I glance at Kane when his phone rings. He tugs it from his pocket and my eyes meet Tav’s, who came over to surprise me with a puppy and is now staying for dinner, before shifting to Uncle Miguel, who loves this soup, and I wouldn’t dream of making it and not invite him.

Besides, I miss Uncle Miguel.

“Yeah,” Kane answers. Then his eyes lower slowly. “Thanks. I’ll tell her.”

He disconnects and I hold my breath, tossing a small square of bacon to the tiny yapping pup at my heels whom I’ve yet to name. “Ilya?”

Kane nods. “He heard from Cash. Arianna Newfield is among the remains.”

“Oh.” I touch fingertips to my chest, feeling a heavy throb. A pinch of pain.

“Jacob Yancey is gone.”

The breath of relief I release is unlike anything I’ve ever felt in my life. It leaves me with an audible whoosh that has the pups’ yaps growing louder even as my hands grip for the counter. Uncle Miguel is there fast, holding me upright.

“Hey, kiddo.” His rough voice is soft for me. “It’s okay. This is good. He can’t hurt another woman.”

“I know.” I suck in breath. “I just—I don’t know what I’m feeling.”

It’s Tav who speaks. “The guilt you feel at the hand you held in his death—let it go.”

My eyes hold Tav’s dark brown and a tear hovers on my lash. “How?”

Why is this affecting me like this after everything? After I’d told myself over and over that it was the right thing, and I didn’t care.

Because a life is a life. Even an evil one.

“By knowing that in ending his, you ensured others would continue. Good lives. Full lives.” He comes around the island, and I can feel Kane watching as Tav takes my face in his hands. “You keep playing the music. Keep singing the songs. You don’t let him take away your life, not when you fought so hard to keep it.”

My smile wobbles. “Okay.”

He kisses my forehead, handing me to Kane as he says, “And you give the damn pup a name.”

I laugh, shooting him a mock pout. “I wanted a kitten.”

“You need a pup.”

“I needed one. Past tense. I’m safe now, remember?” I crouch to lift the baby Cane Corso into my arms, receiving a happy lick when I ask, “But you want a kitty friend, don’t you?”

“A cat too, eh?” Kane asks dryly, letting the sad fade into something more happy. More us.

I ask my pup again, “What do you think? Should we get a kitty?” When I get a happy yap, I look at Kane. “He said yes. Definitely yes.”

“The breeder has cats and young kids, so he’s familiar.”

“See!” I give a little jump. “He already likes cats.”

“Good luck, man.” Uncle Miguel laughs at Kane’s quickly losing battle.

But Kane isn’t deterred as he comes close, hands finding my hips as he says, “He also likes kids, by the sounds of it.”

After I peel my jaw up off the floor, I mutter, “It’s a good thing Cash and Wren are having twins.”

Kane tips his head to the side. “And what about us?”

My breath catches and I blush at the fact this intimate moment is being witnessed by Tav and Uncle Miguel. “What about us?”

“When are we giving the pup a baby?”

“We’re giving him a baby?” I can feel my brows climbing on my forehead even as my smile spreads on my face.

“He needs someone to protect. And they’re great family dogs.”

“He’s got a point,” Tav says. Uncle Miguel gives him an elbow to the side, but Tav doesn’t even grunt as he watches me with Kane. This is payback, I realize, for telling him I was going to try and set him up.

I don’t bother retaliating. I’m too overcome by thoughts of sharing a baby with Kane that I say simply, “Okay.”

A slow smile begins to spread on Kane’s face. It’s filled with the most beautiful kind of hope. “Okay?”

I nod, feeling all kinds of feelings. Shy, hopeful, and so in love I could burst. “Okay.”

He points to the front door without looking at Tav or Uncle Miguel. “Out. Out now.”

Playfully hitting my husband’s chest, I shake my head and set the pup on the floor. “We’re not kicking them out so you can try and knock me up.”

“No trying, Sunshine. It’ll be done.”

I’ve already started dishing up the soup. “After we eat.”

Kane grumbles something along the lines of me being a tyrant, but I’m smiling like a crazy person when I finally join my family at the dinner table to eat home cooked soup with my pup nibbling on a chew toy in his new bed.

For the first time in a long time, absolutely everything in my life—including the newly replenished stash of chocolate covered Santa marshmallows in my candy cupboard—is right.

Who knew it all started by making a deal with a devil?