Page 133 of Alpha's Redemption

With them here, I have a good idea of where I am, which is surprising. Valen said the hotel wouldn't be ready. He had used every excuse to keep us away from this place, from gas leaks to plumbing issues to electrical faults.

“I swear, if they have ruined our hotel,” Zoe hisses, and I chuckle, knowing there would definitely be blood.

“Maybe the cliff was a better idea,” Marcus mutters, and Valen laughs behind me.

“Okay, can we take these off? We figured out where we are,” Macey says.

“One second; you have to lift your legs and step up onto the wall,” Valen says.

“Wall?” I ask, shuffling my feet, not wanting to trip.

“Shouldn't be an issue for you, Macey. You're good at lifting your legs around your ears,” Tatum snickers, and she growls.

“Language, you brute! Or I will jamyourlegs behind your head and testyourflexibility,” she growls at him.

My feet hits something—obviously the wall Valen mentioned.

“You couldn't have walked around the wall?”

“Nah, too much entertainment watching you all trying to lift your legs high enough,” Marcus laughs. The other two join in the laughter behind us, earning growls from us.

Valen grips my hips and places me on the little wall. It isn't very high, though I still wobbled before I caught my balance. I felt the girls wobbling on their feet too.

“Now stay there. And don't fall or you'll ruin the garden bed beneath you,” Valen says. I sigh impatiently, wanting to take the blindfold off.

“Okay, you can all remove them now,” Marcus calls, and I rip mine off at the same time the girls do. I untangle my hair from it before looking up.

We all gasp simultaneously at the sight before us. Our hotel has been restored to its former glory, but that isn't what made me gasp; I knew what the plans looked like. No, I was shocked that the old fountain that sat in the center of the driveway is gone. In its place is a huge statue.

Zoe cups her hands over her mouth in awe, and Macey squeezes my hand as we look up at…

…ourselves!

The statue is amazing. They must have used an old photo I have of Valarie. She’s standing up at the top, but instead of the banner she held in that photo, she’s holding the sign for our new hotel:

'Village Retreat'

Beneath her is a statue of Macey, Me, and Zoe, all standing at the bottom on a pile of tools and rubble and all three of us have a baby cradled in our arms. I know they represent Taylor, Valarian, and Casey, and our struggles to get this place up and running.

“This is amazing,” Macey whispers, her arm sliding around my waist as she rests her head on my shoulder. Zoe does the same.

“It's perfect,” Zoe whispers as I stare up at the woman who inspired us all. Valarie would have loved it, and I know she’s watching, I know we made her proud, becauseI’mproud of what we built. We hadbuiltsomething. Something extraordinary. Something that made all our hardships so worth it.

Zoe snorts, choking on a sob, and I rub her back, looking at her when she points toward the massive statue.

“Look at the shirts,” she says, pointing at our uniforms. The detail is magnificent. No wonder Valen was putting it off for so long; it would have taken ages to have commissioned. Even the little features like our name tags on our shirts are included, and I read the tiny details on them. Instead of our names, they have something else.

'Watch me'

“We watched,” Tatum says.

“We saw,” Marcus adds.

“And we loved you all more,” Valen finishes.

Macey snickers, and Zoe and I laughed at them.

“Shall we go inside?” Marcus asks, and we all nod eagerly.

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