Page 220 of Endgame
“It’s not my fault,” she cries.
“Shut up,” I bark. Their marital problems are none of my concern. They’re free to resolve them later, in the back of the police car.
“My inheritance depended on me having at least one kid. Taking you was the perfect solution,” he continues. “On top of that, adopting an orphan would’ve done wonders for our image.The idea of selling her off as someone’s wife was another plus. Perhaps to a senator or a high-ranking official. Maybe use her to run for governor one day, if I played my cards right.”
I can’t help it. I laugh. I laugh so fucking hard, because—seriously? I haven’t taken him for being delusional. Abuser? Yes. Rapist and murderer, that too.
This is another level of unhinged.
“You don’t think I could?”
“I think you’re a piece of shit,” Aurora growls at my side. Her fury is gorgeous. Blazing. Mine. “Finish the story, asshole.”
He snarls at her. “She had no place in my future. She begged me to come with her to her parents, to help her make things right.I won’t press charges, just tell them and the rest of the Royalty that we were foolish. We made a mistake, and it wasn’t a big deal. I can’t bear the thought of Mom, Dad, and Everett being the center of a scandal. That’s what she asked of me. I lied to her and promised I’d help, inviting her inside to take a hot bath and have something to eat before we left. While she was in the bath, I snuck in behind her. I strangled her.”
“You killed her here?” Aurora chokes on the words. Her hand claps over her mouth, her face turning green.
I’m equally repulsed by the idea, my stomach churning.
“Yes.”
“Here?” She looks around the room, then back at him, her face twisted in pain. “Where I grew up? I walked on the—God, fuck—my feet touched the floor where my mom’s body lay?”
“Again, yes.” No remorse. No sugarcoating his heinous crimes. “She handed you over to Molly, and I murdered her as soon as she had her back to us. I got rid of the body, hid you so your grandparents wouldn’t recognize you, and that was that.”
I’m not in control of myself. Of my fist, as it connects with his stomach over and over and over.
That was that.
That. Was. That.
He’s ruined five lives, and he has the audacity to sayThat was that?
“Everett.” Aurora jumps on me, hugging me from the side. Both her arms are wrapped around my shoulders, lending me the warmth I don’t deserve. “Everett, stop. I won’t let you go to prison for this. I won’t.”
That one small kiss to my cheek, and I can breathe again.
Sucking in air, I turn to look at her. Tears stream down her cheeks. Her pained gaze cuts me deep.
“We have our closure.” She strokes my stubbled jaw, her voice as unsteady as I feel. “It’s time for us to start healing. It’s time to move on.”
She’s right. So right that I bark for Randy to come.
Together, we watch him haul Winston and Molly out of the room, humiliated, pathetic, anddone.
They’re done.
I can finally see my future, and it’s with this woman whose cheeks I’m cupping.
“Thank you,” she groans between one passionate kiss and another. “For finding me.”
“I’ll always find you.” I touch her everywhere my hands reach. The need to feel her beneath my fingertips is as urgent as a dead man’s last breath. “Wherever you go, wherever you are. I’ll always find you.”
“I believe you.” Pulling back, her forehead presses to mine. “I love you.”
“I love you too. With everything I have in me. Until my dying breath. You’re mine.”
EPILOGUE
