Page 131 of Reaper Flame

“The same way I’ve learned to.”

“How do you do it?”

“I remind myself that real family is who we choose, not what we are born into,” he replied. “Someone once said blood changes nothing.”

I pouted, cursing myself. “I can be a real smartass sometimes.”

“That’s why we love you.” Zander grinned. “But you need to give yourself time to heal.”

“How much time?”

A part of me was terrified it would never happen. Some things were too hard to come back from.

“As long as it takes,” he replied firmly. “And we are going to be there to help you every step of the way. We’re not going anywhere.”

My lips curved upward but it made my jaw ache.

“I need to get ready.” I sighed, batting him away and trying to keep my focus on what needed to be done. “Or we’ll be late for the meeting.”

He nodded, looking like he wanted to say more but didn’t.

“I’ll wait for you outside.”

* * *

“How did the meeting with the accountant go yesterday?” Mieko asked. I could tell she didn’t care about the answer but wanted to keep my mind busy. It didn’t work as all I could do was shrug in reply.

“I’ll be right back,” Vixen promised as I slipped into the first pew in the church. “There’s something I need to do.”

She raced off to finalize last-minute song choices. I couldn’t decide whether her throwing herself into arrangements was her way of getting through the day or because of her control-freak nature.

“Cupid would be proud of you,” Mieko said, sliding in next to me. She rested her head on my shoulder. “He’d be proud of everything you’ve done.”

“I don’t know about that,” I replied. “If he knew the truth, I don’t know if he’d have helped me at all. He wanted to take Hiram and his empire down, not help me take it over.”

“You’re nothing like Hiram,” Mieko insisted. “You know that, don’t you?”

I sighed. My bruises may have healed enough to hide under a thick layer of concealer, but other wounds were still raw. Mieko’s question is one I keep asking myself. One I still didn’t, and may never, know the answer to.

“He was still my uncle.”

“You did what was right.” Mieko squeezed my arm in reassurance. “Just like your mom did.”

I cracked a small smile. Zander had hired private investigators to find out more about who my parents were, but I’m not sure whether I’ll ever be ready to hear about what they uncover. The last few weeks showed me that family iswhoyou choose, and sometimes you’re better off not knowing...

Behind us, Giles took a seat. His suit wasn’t ironed, but he didn’t smell, which was an improvement from the last time we saw him. The haunted look in his eyes told me he still had a long way to go to healing. Hiram was dead, but his destruction was clear everywhere I looked.

I turned around to greet him.

“Thanks for coming,” I mumbled, “and for signing the papers.”

Giles nodded soberly in response. After his intelligence led to finding Hiram, we extended a peace offering and completed our ‘divorce’. Our marriage may have been a sham, but Hiram made sure everything was done properly.

Vixen sat on Mieko’s other side and took her hand, being careful not to rub against Mieko’s fresh Seven tattoo on the inside of her wrist.

“We’re ready to start now,” Vixen said.

I took a deep breath as the music started playing. The bittersweet cry of the violin was almost too perfect. West, Zander and Rocky carried Q’s coffin down the aisle on their shoulders. Mieko dabbed her eyes with a tissue. I stared forward, trying my best not to think about how the only part of Q’s body we could bury was his head.

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