Epilogue
Neko
One Year Later...
For years, Panama was nothing more than a graveyard. A place where my mistakes, my blind spots, and the blood of people who betrayed me hung thick in the air like humidity. I carried that guilt across oceans, letting the weight of it harden me into someone who only knew how to survive in the dark.
Tonight, the Pacific crashes softly against the shoreline, silvered beneath a heavy, brilliant moon. The warm breeze carries the scent of salt and crushed rain, but the ghosts are gone.
She chased them out.
Noemi’s hand is tucked tightly into mine, her slender fingers laced through my calloused ones as we walk along the tide-swept sand. She’s barefoot, her laughter soft as the foam laps at her toes, her hair catching the wind and painting dark strands across her throat.
I brought her here to burn away the last embers of my past. I thought I needed to face the place where my life once collapsed to finally move on.
But watching her glow beneath the pale light of the sky, I realize I didn't have to fight the old specters at all.
She simply left no room for them to exist.
"Neko?" She pauses, turning to face me. Her eyes are bright, dark, and endless, reflecting the white crests of the waves behind us. "You’re quiet tonight. Where is your head?"
"Right here," I say, stepping into her space until there isn't a whisper of air left between us.
I cup her jaw, my thumb tracing the curve of her cheekbone.
I used to think my only purpose was to guard her—to stand two steps behind her in the shadows, a weapon ready for whatever dared to threaten her.
But guarding her was never going to be enough.
Loving her destroyed any chance I had of staying in the dark.
I drop to one knee in the cool, wet sand.
Noemi catches her breath, her hand flying to her lips, her eyes widening in the moonlight.
I reach into my jacket and pull out the small velvet box, snapping it open. The ring inside gleams with a sharp, brilliant light.
"This shore used to hold the worst night of my life," I tell her, my voice low and thick with everything I’ve buried for years.
"Now I want it to hold the best one. I spent a long time guarding a future I didn't think I had a right to claim, Noemi.
But I don't want to just protect your life anymore.
I want to build one with you. Marry me."
The tide pulls back into the ocean, leaving a silence so absolute I can hear the rapid beat of her heart. Then, she drops down into the sand with me, throwing her arms around my neck with enough force to knock us both off balance.
"Yes," she whispers against my throat, her breath hot, her hands tangled tightly in my hair. "Yes, Neko. Always."
I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her flush against my chest, breathing in the scent of her, the ocean, and the clean slate of a life I finally get to keep. The shadows are gone. There is only her.