Epilogue

EPILOGUE

2 YEARS LATER - LUCA

" F reeze!" I call out to Jett as he dashes by me while I sit on the couch, holding his baby sister against my chest. "Front and center, young man."

Jett slows down and comes back to a sliding halt in front of me. "Yes?"

"Where are you going?" I ask him.

"To climb the wall with Virginia. Uncle Sonny's at the bottom and Aunt Gina's by the pool with Mom. Sonya's in the pool and Antoni's asleep in my bed." He replies with a raspiness to his voice which signals he's getting older.

"Are those the lucky socks?" I ask him, looking down at the yellowish monstrosities on his feet. Jo would kill me if I let him funk up the house.

He laughs. "No, just dirty."

"Gross man. Please don't make Mom yell at either one of us. Do me a favor? Can you grab Maddie's blanket and those papers off the kitchen counter and bring them to me?" I ask him.

Jo comes inside from lounging by the pool, fanning herself as she eyes me with a quirky grin spreading across her face. She whispers to me. "Did you show him yet?"

I nudge my head toward Jett, who's bundling everything together to bring to me. Jo reaches down to grab our daughter, Madison Devlin, from my arms, which causes her two-month-old body to scrunch into a ball with the slightest whine because she's being disturbed.

"Why do you two have that goofy look on your face?" Jett asks, curiosity overcoming him as he hands me the blanket and papers.

"Have a seat," I tell him, patting the sofa as I hand the blanket to Jo.

"I swear I'm going to change my socks, Mom. Dad just told me, so it's not his fault."

I chuckle and Jo shakes her head. "I'm just here to monitor the proceedings."

"The pro-what?" Jett's face of frustration is too similar to Jo.

"Look at these papers," I spread them out on the table. "We just received them and wanted to talk to you about something. You know how Mom said you can call me Dad because it will be easier when Maddie gets older?"

"Yeah."

"What if I was your dad for real? Like no one in this world could ever question it."

"Not even Duke the Puke?" he asks.

"Nope, not even that ass turd. If he ever gets out of prison," Jo mumbles, gently rocking the baby.

Jett shakes his head, giving me the side-eye showing that we both hate it when she refuses to curse.

"I mean, no one can tell me I'm not and I dare anyone to try," I tell him. "But these papers say I can adopt you and if you want, you can change your name like Mom."

"My name would be Jett Devlin?" he asks, his eyes wide. "That sounds so cool! I mean, I love Hansen."

"Good save, kiddo." Jo laughs. "But yes, Jett Devlin is a very cool sounding name."

"It sounds like the name of an action hero." Jett puts on his best movie trailer voice. "Starring in Prince of the Zombie Brigade, Jett Devlin. I love it. This is real, right?"

"If you want it to be. I'd love nothing more than for you to let me be your Dad, forever." My words come with an odd nervousness inside of me. What if this isn't what he wants? What if he says no?

"Of course I do. You saved our lives. You got Mom out of trouble after she shot that shit stain?—"

"Language," Jo admonishes.

Jett sighs. "You got Mom out of trouble for protecting us when she shot the man who took me out of school without permission. You helped Uncle Collin get back into school without taking a semester off. I got a baby sister who cries, but she's cool in her own cute way. I get to go rock climbing and swimming every day and you make my Mom happy. You don't make her cry unless she's laughing really hard, and you never yell at me to cut my hair. Even when I do something wrong, you don't scare me or anything. You let me know it's okay to make mistakes. You've been my Dad for a really long time but if the paper makes it so the world knows, I'm okay with that too."

"This kid." I grab hold of my son, pulling him into a headlock and hug as Jo uses the blanket to wipe away her not-laughing tears of joy. "I love you guys."

"We love you, too," Jett says with eyes like mine, staring up at me. "Dad."

THE END

If you want to read more dark billionaire romance books with a twist, you can look forward to Merciless Attraction (Dark Empire Desires 3)!