Page 110 of Darkest Retribution

David is dead. It’s finally over.

I switch over to my messages with Blaze.

Dominic:You can come home now.

“Is everything okay?”

I turn at the fear in Jade’s voice. Her eyes are hesitant, her jaw set.

“Yeah,” I say. “He’s dead.” I move toward her, placing my hands on her waist and kissing her forehead. I let my lips linger on her skin, savoring the moment. “Everything’s perfect.”

She leans into me, whispering, “Oh my god. Oh mygod.”

“You don’t have anything to worry about anymore,” I murmur.

She presses her fingers to her lips, her gaze falling to Rosie. “I’ve been fighting to keep her safe since the moment I laid eyes on her.”

“I know.”

“Grumpy, I...” She trails off, leaning her head against my chest. “Do you think she’ll hate me? For letting him die?”

“No,” I murmur, stroking her back. “And if she does, she’ll see reason eventually. But he was going to kill her. She’ll understand that it was necessary.”

Jade nods, breathing deeply. After a minute, she says, “I’m keeping her home from school today. And maybe some of next week, too. Unless she wants to go back. I don’t want to take her away from her friends.”

“We’ll figure it out.”

She stills. “You mean that?”

“Mean what?”

“We.You saidwe’llfigure it out.”

I smile. “Definitely.”

Chapter twenty-six

Jade

Ineverknewhowmuch safety I’d find in letting a person care for me. But now, as I wrap my arms around Dominic’s neck and kiss him, I want more. Forever.

“Auntie Jade?Mister Dominic?!”

We pull away. Rosie is sitting up in bed and staring at us with her jaw dropped.

“Hey, squirt.”

“You two were kissing!”

Dominic grins. “We were.”

My stomach flips.What if she’s not okay with this?

I let my arms drop to my sides. Then I sit on the edge of the bed, getting on Rosie’s level. “What do you think about that? About Mister Dominic and I being together?”

Rosie’s eyes bug out of her head. “Like getting married?”

“Ah, not quite like that. Not yet. But we’d date.”

---