Page 43 of Conquer

Epilogue

Three Weeks Later

Sam

I feltlike I was a different person, one who lived in a different world, and in a lot of ways, I was.

I hadn’t gone back to my house, hadn’t done anything but move forward, as far and as fast as I could.

My mother was due to return to the West Coast and then fly home, so I got a hotel room and waited for her. At first, I’d been too shell-shocked to do anything. But as that shock had faded, I wondered. First, why no one had come looking for me, and why I’d heard no news of Gordon’s and Ed’s deaths.

Probably that man’s doing.

After that, I’d tried to come to terms with what had happened, wondered how I would get along with no closure, then laughed at the very idea of such a thing.

Like Adrian would one day just be a part of my past… Like I wouldn’t mourn him forever.

I would.

And during those awful days in the aftermath, I did.

Until I didn’t need to.

One bright morning, I opened my hotel room door and found him standing there.

I was almost convinced I was dreaming, but when I looked into his eyes, I had the same feeling I’d had the very first time I’d seen him.

I knew that he was real.

I pulled him into the hotel room and closed the door. And then I stood, staring, heart thundering, threatening to break out of my chest.

I needed to do something, anything, so I followed my first instinct and slapped him as hard as I could.

My hand stung from the impact, the pain centering me somehow. And once it had, I followed my second instinct.

I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face against his chest, breathing in his scent, his warmth, my vision blurred from the tears of joy that fell so freely.

I held him for long moments and then finally broke away. “So why are you here?” I asked, trying to sound nonchalant, which was foolish and completely unnecessary after my previous display.

“I needed to say something to you,” he said.

“What?”

“I needed to tell you that I love you,” he said. “I didn’t get to say before, and I didn’t want to miss the chance.”

His words made the tears flow again.

Of all the things that I regretted, the one that kept me up at night was the realization that everything I had felt, everything that I had believed, I felt had been a lie. And even though he’d done so much to keep me safe, I hadn’t heard the words.

I had now.

“I just needed to say it. That’s all,” he whispered.

“Adrian?”

“Yes?” he responded, his voice calm, patient, so much like the man I had fallen in love with.

“Tell me it wasn’t all a lie,” I said.

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