Chapter 32

thirty-two

Olympia – five months later

Laurier Lines in L.A. stands in a towering building that aims to touch the very sky Grandma Laurie loved so much. Every time I walk through the doors, I can’t help but think about her. About the way she’d spend her weekends with me when she was alive. Sunny days with puffy white clouds hovering within the blue were her favorite. She’d make a mimosa for herself and pour a sparkling non-alcoholic wine for me (probably why I love champagne), and we’d sit together on the lounge chairs by her pool, pointing out the pictures we saw in the sky.

The pretty sky-blue that accents all of Laurier Lines makes me think of her often. Every time I do, I miss her hard.

But I think she’d be proud to know I’m here. I’m working hard to stand in the legacy she left behind. I think she would be proud to know that Dad has worked hard in the past months to better himself. He visits an AA meeting frequently and, true to his word, has absolutely no interest in gambling. He shows up to work, sober, and looking healthier than I’ve seen him in years. He’s doing good. Twice a week, I meet him for lunch. Today, he personally delivered a pretty celebration cake decorated in Laurier Blue icing to the mailroom where I work.

It’s my last day in the mailroom. I’m moving up, slow but sure.

I’d made the decision to start at the bottom, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because I have every intention of knowing my grandmother’s company just as she knew it. Inside and out.

So, I’ve started where she started when she took over from her father and made it into the mega-corporation it is today. At the bottom.

As I pull my pretty blue—as close to Laurier Blue as I could get Land Rover—into the driveway next to Tav’s black SUV, I fling my pretty brown leather purse over my shoulder as I slide from the driver’s seat. In the cute blue dress Tav loves, I’m feeling good about tonight. I’m literally so happy, I can hardly contain the smile on my face as I count the blessings that have overcome my life these last months.

When Tav said things have been set in motion, he hadn’t been kidding. It didn’t take long for the luck of our families to run out. With the authorities firmly invested in the takedown, Abe, Remira, and Darius had a long few months of court proceedings, public humiliation (totally deserved) and finally, prison.

After the authorities were brought in, more crimes than we initially thought were uncovered. Abe, Remira, and Darius were arrested on multiple counts. Forging Annika’s will was only one of the charges. Tav had employed Ian’s best investigation guy to dig up the dirt on the three, and boy, did he dig.

All assets have been seized, all accounts frozen, and their futures are looking pretty grey—pun totally intended as per the prison décor of concrete and sorrow.

Apparently, with a list of charges including blackmail, threats, harassment, money laundering, and more. They’ve been very, very bad people.

I, for one, am happy to see them fall. Hard.

Opening the door to the home I share with Tav, I kick off my heels and call my man’s name as a chorus of “Congratulations” sound as soon as I enter the living room.

Everyone I care about, Dad included, is standing in my home waiting for me. Glittery blue helium balloons bob against the ceiling with pretty, curly ribbon dangling low enough to grab. On the island, decked out in yummy food, is a massive cupcake stand filled with blue and white cupcakes decorated with pretty little flowers. Champagne flutes line the counter, and a bottle sits waiting on ice as Tav comes toward me with light in his dark eyes.

“Congratulations, Princess. You’ve worked hard and I’m proud of you.” Hooking me around the waist, Tav pulls me into his chest. The room erupts into a cheer. “Working and studying online hasn’t been easy, but you’re killing it.” Tav drops his mouth to mine, kissing me deeply and in front of everyone.

When Tav breaks the kiss he landed on me, he pulls away with a confident grin, as his eyes lock on my happy one. Then he calls, “Every one of you owes me fifty bucks.”

My mouth drops. “You’re betting?”

“Hell, yeah, baby.” He tips his head to the guys. “Those assholes have made enough off us. I’m recuperating some of the losses.”

“They weren’t your loses,” Kane huffs.

“Still.” Tav shrugs. “They were at our expense.”

I demand, “And what were we betting on this time?”

“They thought you’d be upset by a surprise party.” Tav chuckles. “Fools.”

When Dad gives Tav a crisp fifty, my mouth pops open again. “You thought I’d be upset?”

“You never seemed to like parties, kiddo.”

I lean into Tav’s big chest. “That’s because they weren’t with people I love.”

“Aww!” Wrenlee claps her hands together. “That’s so sweet.”

Nevaeh hands me a glass of bubbly. “I knew I loved her. Right from the start.”

Taking a sip of my champagne, I see two tiny heads bobbing as little legs carry them in from where they’d been playing outside, Wrenlee and Cash’s twins giving chase to their Granny, before Cash scoops them up, one in each arm, planting a kiss on their heads.

My eyes watch the beauty unfolding with Nevaeh beside me as I take another sip of my champagne. Then I look to Nevaeh, who is standing close, her hand touching her belly.

My heart skips. I wiggle my glass of champagne. “Where’s yours?”

Her eyes land on Kane’s, and when he nods, Nevaeh says, “I can’t drink.”

Oh, my God.

I’m trying not to get too excited, but I can’t not be excited for the possibility of this. “Why?”

“We’re having a baby. I’m pregnant.” She giggles, the emotion making the sound come out more like a sob. “Finally, we’re pregnant.”

The entire room is silent. And then it’s not silent anymore, because there are rounds of ‘congratulations’, hugs, and cheers to be had.

Tav pulls me back against his chest when things begin to calm with Nevaeh’s and Kane’s news. Nuzzling his face into the crook of my neck, he murmurs, “Now, it’s our turn.”

My breath catches. “Our turn?”

“For the wedding. The babies. The happily ever after.”

When he kisses my neck, I giggle low. “Before we can get to that, you have to propose.”

His body slides from behind mine to the front, smoothly lowering to one knee in the process. My breath catches and the room goes quiet again as Tav pulls a ring from his pocket.

“Marry me, Princess. Make me the happiest man alive. Give me you, and babies, and salvation.”

I can’t speak. Words—they’re drowned by the emotion I feel swelling inside me as I stare down at the pretty tear drop diamond perched on a braided band of tiny light blue diamonds.

“I love you, Olympia, with all that I am and all that I will ever be. I love you, all of you, scars, tears, smiles, hopes, dreams, and nightmares. I want to live every day with you, falling into sleep every night with you in my arms. I want to be the man you grow old with, baby. Say yes.”

“Yes.” I manage to croak the moment before he slides the ring onto my finger. It’s a perfect fit.

My life with Tav is a perfect fit.

Throwing my arms around his shoulders as he rises to stand, Tav lifts me into his arms and spins me around, shouting, “She said yes!”

I laugh against his throat, never more happy than I am in this moment, knowing that I’ll have a million happier moments in the life that I have to live with Tav as Mrs. Taviera.

“I love you.”

Tav sets me down on my feet, and Wrenlee gives me the champagne she took when Tav lowered to his knee. I take a big sip, my hands shaking even as my smile shines as bright as my diamond.

When the doorbell rings, Tav pats his pocket and mutters, “That’s the pizza. Gotta grab my wallet.”

“I’ll get the door,” I tell him, already making my way there.

I think nothing can wipe the smile off my face until I open the door to see Ophelia. My heart knocks in my chest at the sight of my sister’s rage filled face staring down at me—the gun in her hand trembling at her side.

“You took everything from me,” she hisses.. Ice cold hatred in her dead eyes has dread and fear washing over me. “It’s my turn, little sister.”

She lifts the gun as I try to flee. The first pop hits me in the belly. So does the next one.

Even as my body flies backward, I don’t feel the pain, not instantly. My head connects with the floor, my vision distorting as I gasp in air that sears. A blur of jean and white—Kane, I think—flies past me. There’s a shriek. Another pop. Some cursing that sounds far away now. I’m in a tunnel.

Someone presses down on my stomach. That’s when I feel the pain.

Candace is barking commands.

The tunnel is closing as someone begs, “Hold on. Hold on. Help is coming.”

Then I hear Tav. A beastly roar of agonized terror. It slips through the quickly closing tunnel to follow me into a darkness so black, so dreamless, there’s nothing but me and the roar for what feels like eternity.