Epilogue

I t’d been four months since Noah and the boys moved into Annabelle’s loft. And she’d loved every single minute of it. They’d had the back of the apartment renovated, turning the guest bedrooms and shared bathroom over to Jacob and Sammy and building a new bedroom—with walls—where her old one used to be. The panic room had been converted into a closet, and a new panic room built on the second floor for everyone to use. All the new walls were now soundproofed, at Noah’s insistence, and a small guest bathroom had been installed in the area where the gym equipment used to be.

It surprised Annabelle how easily they’d all adapted to living together. The boys loved the warehouse and hanging out with their dad’s security team, and Annabelle loved having a huge extended family close by. No matter the time, there was always someone around to talk to, although everyone had moved out into other accommodation now, except for her and her boys. But there was always someone on duty, day or night, and even when Noah was out of town for work, the building was never empty.

The Benson Security team had renovated the first floor, turning the shop into their street-front office and the back area into a gym, training space, and storage. They were still renovating the second floor, but there were plans for a proper open-plan office space and a couple of small breakout rooms.

The triplets, meanwhile, had talked her into adding a climbing wall in the alleyway between the buildings, and that was next on the list for the builders. Rochelle had put her foot down about the inter-floor slide idea, saying it was a security risk. However, Annabelle suspected Rochelle just didn’t want the triplets playing all day long. Not a good look for security officers.

“I’m getting fed up waiting,” Annabelle called from where she sat at the kitchen island as she’d been ordered by Jacob and Sammy.

They’d run off, saying there was a surprise, but they needed to do some last-minute prep. She wondered if they’d finished the comic book they’d been working on.

“Right.” Sammy ran back into the room and screeched to a halt beside her. “You can come with me now. I wanted to put a blindfold on you, but Dad said that would freak you out.”

“I said”—Noah appeared in the doorway between the kitchen area and the boys’ bedrooms—“that it might not be the best idea.”

“Whatever.” Sammy grabbed Annabelle’s hand. “You need to come see.”

“Yeah,” Jacob called from beside Noah. “Hurry up.”

“Hurry up,” Annabelle grumbled. “I’ve been waiting here for half an hour, and now you want me to hurry up?”

Noah and Jacob shared a look of amusement.

“This way,” Sammy said, pulling her along.

They walked into the back corridor and turned to the stairs up to the roof. Okay, she hadn’t expected that. Annabelle still had a developing relationship with her roof. She’d been out on it several times since the incident with Hanson, trying to put the memory of hiding from him behind her. It helped that her friends and family went with her, and it also helped that Hanson was no longer a concern. He’d lasted only a few days in prison before a member of the Alvarez cartel had taken him out. That part of her life was well and truly behind her. Which just left getting used to the roof. But no matter how much the boys encouraged her to go up there more often, at the end of the day, it was just a plain old roof.

Or was it?

She cast a sidelong glance at Noah. “What have you done to the roof?”

“I told you she’d guess.” Jacob grinned.

“Shh!” Sammy hissed. “You’ll ruin the surprise.”

With a sigh but secretly delighted, Annabelle let the boys hustle her up the stairs and out onto her roof. Where she came to a complete halt. Unable to do anything but stare in awe. The roof was no longer plain. She gasped and looked around, trying to take it all in. There was a grassy area, raised flower and vegetable beds, a basketball court, a fountain, and benches and seating everywhere. There were even trees! It was beautiful.

She took a shaky step away from the door and closer to the Benson Security team, who stood grinning at her in the bright afternoon sun. Noah took her hand and held it tight, giving her the courage she needed to take another step. Sammy and Jacob crowded in around her, protecting her—just like their father.

“We’re here,” Noah whispered to her. “We’ve got you. You’re safe to explore. I promise.”

She squeezed his hand hard.

“Look,” Sammy said excitedly, although he didn’t run off to show her what he meant; he stayed beside her, giving her support. “We’ve put a fence around the edge so you can’t fall off.”

“So I can’t fall off?” She cocked an eyebrow at Noah.

Sammy leaned in to whisper loudly, “Really, it’s for the triplets.”

There was muffled laughter from Noah’s team.

Jacob nudged her shoulder. At fourteen, he was already a head taller than her and growing every day. “We made trellis corridors that will be covered in plants by spring. That way, if looking up at the sky gets too much, you can stay on the paths and have a kind of roof over your head.”

Tears stung her eyes as she bumped back into him. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Show her the best bit, Dad,” Sammy demanded, bouncing on the spot.

“You mean the barbeque?” Noah asked innocently.

“No,” Sammy wailed. “The gazebo!”

Noah gently turned Annabelle toward the corner of the roof above the living room area, facing Houston’s skyline, where a beautiful wooden gazebo sat tucked into a space filled with plants.

She gasped at the sight.

“Do you think you can make it over there?” Noah asked.

The team moved toward her.

“Maybe if we all go?” Katrina said with understanding.

Annabelle nodded, her throat suddenly tight. “I can try.”

Together, they made their way to the structure in the corner, Annabelle keeping a death grip on Noah’s hand as her makeshift family jostled around her. If anyone thought she was taking too long to get there, they kept it to themself. Mostly, there were observations about the roof and exclamations of delight when someone noticed something new.

“I got a call from detective Johnson this morning,” Rochelle said as she came alongside them.

“Been a while since we heard from him,” Noah said.

“Yeah, he wanted to tell me about something weird that’d happened.” Her eyes sparkled as she cast a knowing glance in Rodrigo’s direction. “Seems they got a call in the middle of the night that there were problems on a private airstrip on the edge of town. Rumor was that drugs were involved.”

“And that’s weird how?” Noah asked innocently.

Far too innocently. Annabelle glanced up at him to see him fighting a smile. When she looked around the rest of the team, only Rodrigo and Abasi seemed to be amused. Those three. Always up to mischief together. They were worse than the triplets.

“The weird part,” Rochelle said, “is that there weren’t any drugs on the plane. When they got on board, they found a sleeping woman and not much else.” She eyed him knowingly. “You’ll never guess who the woman was.”

“Then don’t make me try,” Noah said with a grin.

“It was former ADA Grant. Apparently, she’d gone to sleep in her bed in Ecuador and was very confused about waking up in Houston.” She eyed Rodrigo, Abasi and Noah. “I don’t suppose you know anything about how that might have happened?”

Noah shook his head slowly. “I got nothing.”

“Mystery to me,” Rodrigo said.

“If I’d been involved, her sleep would have been of a more permanent kind,” Abasi said solemnly.

“Yeah, right.” Rochelle rolled her eyes. “You three are totally clueless.”

The men shared a smile.

At last, they reached the gazebo. It had six sides and wooden benches around the inside walls, providing plenty of space for everyone to sit. They crowded in, Annabelle in the middle, and sat looking out over the array of flowers to the view beyond.

“I can’t believe you did this,” Annabelle said, sniffing.

“Everybody helped,” Jacob said proudly.

“We put the basketball court as far away from the gazebo as possible so we wouldn’t annoy you when we played,” Sammy said. “Unless you play with us. Can you play basketball?”

“I’ve never tried,” she said. There were so many things she’d never tried until she met Noah. So many experiences she’d missed out on. And he was making up for every last one. “I can learn, though.”

Sammy nodded wisely. “We’re teaching the triplets. You can join them. They don’t know what they’re doing either.”

“Hey, I resent that,” Evan said. “I googled it.”

The scent of flowers wafted around Annabelle as she sat in her secret garden, surrounded by her friends. Her heart was full to bursting. This was a life she never thought she’d have.

“So.” Noah bumped her shoulder with his. “What do you think? Could you get married up here?”

Annabelle gasped as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box. She held her breath as he flipped it open with one hand because she still had a death grip on the other. An exquisite diamond glinted in its pale blue interior.

“Marry me,” he whispered.

“No, Dad,” Jacob said. “Marry us. We’re a package deal.”

“You heard the boy,” Noah said with a smile. “What will it be?”

There was nothing Annabelle could do but bury her face in Noah’s chest and sob her heart out, clinging to him and vowing she’d never let go.

He wrapped an arm around her. “I think that’s a yes,” he told the group, who cheered and laughed.

“I don’t understand girls,” Sammy said beside her.