Page 52 of Gilded Lies

“You must be the asshole who likes to abuse little girls.”

Oliver’s voice drips with murder. Blood will run tonight. I grip the pendant and hold it so tight the pain keeps my brain focused.

Danika shoves clothes into my hands but I’m not worried about our state of undress. I’m worried about Oliver taking a bullet for me.

I reach back into the bag and hit the first contact on my phone. Hiding behind Oliver isn’t about being scared but about letting him distract the fucker long enough for him not to notice me sending off an SOS message.

Done, I power off and drop the phone in the bag and then step in front of Oliver who almost has a heart attack.

“Magnolia! No!”

Arms come around me, but I do not budge from the spot in the center of the room. Gripping the pendant allows me to focus on the pain and not the fear coursing through my veins.

“Filthy whore. You have no shame.” Venom drips from the monster’s teeth.

“You can’t hurt me anymore. Shoot me. That is fine. You can kill me and you will still not take me from them. It’s not how love works.”

Tears burn the back of my eyes. The longer I talk the brighter the inside of the shed becomes. Wind whips through the open door behind Einar. The storm rages like it’s entered the shed, too.

Flames grow tall. “Love is what you can never take away from me. I have found where I belong, and you will be in hell where you belong. I love my men. You took nothing from me.” Power grows inside me. It swirls and funnels inside me like the wrath of a tornado. “You will never touch me, have me, or own me, Einar Weston. You are dead to me. DEAD!”

Wind barrels through the shed. Flames flicker out and it’s suddenly dark.

I feel the rush of energy. Fists connect with bones. The smell of blood hits my nostrils.

And then the flash of a muzzle causes my heart to stop. I reach for my phone and turn on the flashlight to find my men standing over a body.

Danika rushes to me. Sirens go off in the distance.

“It’s over. He’s finally dead.” Relief instead of sadness fills me.

Danika takes my face in his hands, and then he checks me over from head to toe. “Are you okay?” He pries the pendant from my clutches, and I look down to see the sharp edges cut into my flesh. “Easy, Magnolia. Let me see.”

“Yes, I’m okay,” I say calmly, not feeling an ounce of remorse. “It’s over.”

“It’s over,” Danika repeats softly.

Oliver and Rune grab dry clothes and get dressed, handing a fresh shirt and pants to Danika.

I do the same—jeans, a sweater, and boots. They were my clothes for running, but I’m done fleeing in fear.

I’m staying with the power of love.

I’m in Danika’s arms first and then surrounded. My hands bury in shirts, and I grip them to me. They each kiss the top of my head, my cheeks, and hands. I nestle closer feeling our love grow. In our circle of warmth, the glow of the pendant radiates as if feeding off our love for one another.

That’s a curiosity for another day. Right now I’m taking comfort in knowing I never have to live in fear again and I will never be alone. My love for them is a constant that will never know an ending.

Epilogue

Magnolia, 3 months later

Rune, Oliver, and Danika operate their empire from the Garden District. New Orleans is a magical place to live and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t believe, now that my eyes have been opened to possibilities, that magic is real. It is alive inside me as much as the love I have for my new family.

I don’t know what unseen force is looking out for me, but the first time my men tried to get me pregnant all those months ago, it didn’t work out. Looking back, it was for the better.

But the second time they got me inside the Golden Key Society they knocked me up. I settle a hand over my abdomen. I can’t wait to watch it grow with the tiny life inside me. Rune and Oliver have already taken to recording daily videos. They promise to make me a beautiful video documenting every single day of my pregnancy from the day we found out I am expecting until the day we bring home our beautiful baby.

Rune reaches for me, and I slide my fingers through his as he follows me into Madam Celeste’s shop. I did what Raja said andread the name on the back of the pendant he gave me. To this day he refuses to tell me how he got it or why he wants me to find a woman in the back of a tarot shop, but here I am. I have no idea what to expect, but Raja is a friend and promises me the woman here can help me get answers as to where I came from and why I feel a deep pull to New Orleans.

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