Epilogue
The world has changed.
Not in the way it does with the seasons, slipping quietly from summer’s heat to winter’s cold, but in a way that shatters everything and leaves jagged edges behind.
Everything I thought I knew about my family, about Sin, about myself, has burned away.
And now, I know the truth.
Zeik’s family has been the real enemy all along, manipulating the war between the Donati’s and the Rusco’s, pulling the strings from the shadows, eliminating anyone who got too close to the truth.
They killed my father.
They killed Bria’s mother.
And now, they have everyone in their clutches, thinking it’s the Nero’s.
The Russian mafia who doesn’t even exist in New York.
I stand on the balcony of a random penthouse in Destin that doesn’t feel safe enough, staring out at the endless stretch of ocean. The salty breeze whips through my hair, but I barely feel it.
Bria steps beside me, leaning against the railing. She’s holding a cigarette she hasn’t lit, rolling it between her fingers. “You’re thinking too hard.”
I don’t look at her. “You don’t think I should be?”
She exhales, drumming her nails against the wood. “I think thinking is good. But if you’re thinking about Sin, then maybe act instead.”
My chest tightens. Sin.
I’m hoping against all hope that Zeik hasn’t told them I’m dead. That is our only hand right now, and we have to play it. We need everyone quiet, so Bria and I can think. No one ever listens to us, so now we must force them.
I do know one thing.
I need answers.
And I’m not going to get them from here.
I turn to Bria, my voice steady. “Are you in?”
She smirks. “Let’s burn this mother fucker to the ground.”
I squeeze the balcony railing, the weight of this decision, this war, this future settling deep in my bones.
The Rusco’s.
The Donati’s.
The Caputo’s.
I’m going to save my husband.
Everything is about to change.
And I’m going to be the one to change it.