Epilogue
EPILOGUE
YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE? WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT. HERE YOU GO…
A s it turns out, the fairy tales that end in happily ever after leave out a shit ton of good stuff. Ren and Lark’s story is no different.
Because of how their relationship started (and, you know, all the stalking and illegal activities), they had more to figure out than most couples. Ren had no idea how to date anyone, but he was eager to learn. He used his genius IQ to read everything he could get his hands on. He read about dating, being the best partner he could be, and how to open up about his feelings (which he hated, but was more than willing to do if it meant that Lark felt more connected to him).
Lark even made him a Tbr list of her favorite romance novels. He read every single one of them and committed all her favorite parts to memory. Those taught him more about love and wooing the woman of his dreams than all the self-help books from so-called experts he could ever read.
Surprisingly enough, historical romance was his favorite. Lark even convinced him to watch Bridgerton and Outlander with her, and he might’ve enjoyed them even more than she did. (But they both agreed to never tell Tenley about it. She’d have way too much fun with that knowledge.)
Long-story-short, Ren was the best student ever and managed to sweep Lark off her feet on every date they went on. Picnics in the park, movie nights, fancy dinners, concerts, festivals…you name the date, and they had it. Ren almost got to the point where he could pretend he was somewhat comfortable in public, too. Almost.
Lark often took pity on him, though, and they also had many dates where they stayed in his underground bunker with Dammit George and just existed together. Often without clothes…and with handcuffs.
But that was another story entirely.
The point was that they got to know each other in a more traditional way for an entire year before Ren couldn’t stand it anymore and proposed. Lark enthusiastically said yes.
They got married on the anniversary of the day Ren kidnapped her in a simple ceremony at Tenley and Knox’s stunning mansion. Mrs. Fulkerson, Sherry, and Lark’s parents were the only other guests in attendance. Dammit George was the ring bearer.
After many, many discussions, they decided to move into Lark’s house after the wedding. But because they couldn’t think of a way to sell the bunker and decoy house that didn’t raise a lot of questions among realtors, buyers, and, well, the government , they decided to keep that place as a safe house.
And a safe house wasn’t a bad thing to have for a man who’d become the mafia’s official hacker.
Yep. That’s right. As predicted, the mafia did find a new boss when Isla and Neal took down the Franchetti family.
Nico Fortunado.
The last Franchetti had barely hit the penitentiary when Nico stepped into place and took over the Italian mafia for the entire state. He, of course, offered Ren a job immediately, but Ren refused until some changes were made. No trafficking, no guns, no drugs. Since Nico hated all those things, too, he had no problem complying.
So now, the Italian mafia made their money with money laundering operations, tax fraud schemes, illegal gambling, and whatever other racketeering they could get into without breaking into trafficking, guns, and drugs. They also took on the occasional hit, as long as Nico and Ren agreed that the target had it coming.
It only took a month for them to make more money than the Franchetti’s had in an entire year. And with Ren’s help, there wasn’t an evidence trail—paper or electronic—to connect any of them to any crimes. Job satisfaction within the organization was higher than it had ever been.
Ren and Lark had discussed his new job in depth before he’d accepted it. He’d been perfectly willing to tell Nico to take his job and shove it. To live on the straight and narrow. Or, at least as straight and narrow as he could, given his questionable skill set and truly abysmal people skills.
But Lark was surprised to find that his job didn’t bother her in the slightest. As long as he came home to her at night and they weren’t in any danger, she was happy to let him follow his heart. And if his heart led him to continue working with criminals…well, so be it. No one was perfect.
His work left him plenty of time to keep watching out for Tenley, Knox, and Mrs. Fulkerson, as well—and for helping Tenley out with whatever crimes she was in the mood to commit. It was a win for everyone.
Meanwhile, Sherry had so much fun in Vegas that she decided to move there and open a second location for Sherry’s Blooms, leaving Lark to run the flagship store. Ren made sure to upgrade the shop’s security so much that she almost felt sorry for anyone who tried to rob her. And that was assuming anyone would be brave enough to try anything with her newest employee—Dammit George—at her side.
Out of sheer curiosity, Lark had Ren do a little long-distance stalking to find out what happened to Isla and Neal. First of all, he found out that WITSEC was nowhere near as secure as anyone would hope it to be, because Ren found them with very little effort. Secondly, they were doing well. They’d been moved to a small town in Iowa under brand new identities, were happily married, and ran a small Chevy dealership that was doing well.
The mystery of what Isla ever saw in Neal remained unsolved.
A few years into their marriage, Ren and Lark decided it was time to expand their family by opening their home to foster kids with backgrounds similar to Ren’s. They had the opportunity to take in three kids—a twelve-year-old boy, an eight-year-old boy, and a four-year-old girl—and ended up adopting every single one of them as soon as they were able. Their inability to let any of their fosters go was a bit of a running joke at CPS. They made no apologies.
The joke extended to their ability to let go of foster dogs, too. They also took in a pair of Belgian Malinois puppies who failed their training to become service dogs, and a Beagle who’d been rescued from animal testing at a cosmetics lab. Dammit George welcomed them to the family with open arms. Er, paws.
Not too shabby for a happily ever after, huh?
The End
But stay tuned for Nico’s story, coming (hopefully) soon!
And in the meantime, if you missed Tenley’s story, you can check it out right HERE .
Keep flipping pages and you’ll also find a sample of You Complicate Me and The Has-Been and the Hot Mess , two of my other snarky rom coms.