Page 54 of Salvation

EPILOGUE

MADISON

One year later…

“Madison, can you pass the marshmallows?” Eva asks.

I grab the bag and throw it to her.

“What’s a camping trip without smores?” She asks.

“Without smores, this would just be a bunch of weird adults huddled around a fire in the woods,” Tessa jokes, earning a chorus of laughter from the group.

Tom, her boyfriend, shakes his head. “That’s not true. We’ve been barbecuing for hours.”

“A barbecue isn’t a barbecue without smores,” Tessa replies.

He rolls his eyes. “Bullshit, I’ve had many barbecues, and smores weren’t involved.”

“Then you’ve been doing it wrong,” she says.

Darren, leaning back against a tree with a beer in hand, chuckles. “You two argue like an old married couple.”

Tessa and Tom glare at him. “No, we don’t.”

Riley, curled up beside Darren, giggles. “You do. I think it’s why you’re so good together.”

Tessa’s expression softens. “Thanks, Riley.”

Dante’s arm tightens around my shoulders. “Do you like smores, little doe?”

I nod. “Anything sweet. You know I’ve got a sweet tooth.”

He arches a brow. “I do.”

Tessa playfully nudges me. “Madison, you’ve got to tell us. How did you catch Dante’s eye when he was still the priest?”

I feel Dante’s chuckle vibrate through his body, his arm tightening around me. “What, do you think my vow of celibacy made me blind?” he teases, breaking his usual stern demeanor.

Laughter erupts around the campfire. “No, but it made you unattainable!” Harper points out, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “That’s what makes it so intriguing.”

I shrug, a sheepish grin on my lips. “I didn’t do anything special. We just clicked, I guess.”

Dante’s laughter rumbles deep in his chest. “That’s one way to put it.”

Jack grins over his beer can. “Considering his former profession, it was divine intervention.”

“I’d call it a miracle!” Eva adds, her eyes twinkling under the soft glow of the campfire.

Dante’s eyes meet mine, the fire’s glow reflected in their depths. “A miracle indeed,” he murmurs, his voice barely audible over the crackling flames.

I laugh, burying my face in his chest, feeling the warmth of his laugh as much as hearing it. In the flickering firelight, the group’s laughter subsides into soft conversations and the occasional clinking of beer cans. The air fills with peace, punctuated by the distant hum of the waterfall.

Dante’s fingers trace idle patterns on my arm, the touch familiar yet always sending a thrill through me. He stands, pulling me up with him. “How about a game of chase, little doe?” His voice is soft, but the invitation hangs in the air, a tantalizing echo of past memories.

I raise an eyebrow, a playful challenge. “You think you can catch me?”

A slow grin spreads across Dante’s face, his eyes gleaming with mischief and something darker, more exciting. “Only one way to find out.”

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