Chapter 15 #2
Around us, the party explodes into celebration.
Someone cranks the music.
Bottles are raised in toast.
Tawny is screaming something unintelligible, and Behemoth's laugh booms across the parking lot, but I barely notice any of it.
All I see is him.
All I feel is this—the solid weight of his arms around me, the cool press of the ring on my finger, the absolute certainty that I am exactly where I'm supposed to be.
Home. Family. Love.
Everything I thought Cain had destroyed, rebuilt from the ashes.
Everything I never thought I'd have, now mine to keep.
Later—much later—we escape to our room.
The party is still going strong downstairs, but neither of us cares.
We tumbled through the door in a tangle of limbs and laughter, and now we're lying in bed, my head on his chest, his hand tracing lazy patterns on my back.
"So," he says. "Engaged."
"Engaged." I hold up my hand, admiring the way the ring catches the moonlight. "I can't believe you proposed at a club party."
"Would you have preferred a fancy restaurant? Candlelight and violin music?"
"God, no." I laugh, pressing a kiss to his chest. "This was perfect. Our people, our home, our life. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way."
"Good." His arms tighten around me. "Because I don't do fancy restaurants."
"I know. That's one of the things I love about you."
We're quiet for a moment, just breathing together.
The sounds of the party drift up from below—music and laughter, the rumble of motorcycles, the clink of bottles. The soundtrack of our life.
"I've been thinking," I say eventually.
"About what?"
"About the future. Our future." I prop myself up on my elbow, looking down at him. "I want to keep working with women like Jade. Women who are trying to escape abusive situations. I want to help them the way you helped me."
"You already do that."
"I know. But I want to do more. Formalize it somehow." I pause, gathering my thoughts. "What if we set up some kind of program? A safe house, maybe. Or a fund to help women get back on their feet. Something that uses the club's resources to actually make a difference."
Levi is quiet for a moment, considering. "That would require buy-in from the brothers."
"I know. But I think they'd support it. After what happened with Cain—after seeing what he did—I think they understand why it matters."
"You'd be putting yourself in the spotlight. Making yourself a target for anyone who doesn't like what we do."
"I'm already a target. At least this way, the target would be worth it."
He studies my face, his expression unreadable. Then, slowly, he smiles.
"You've really thought about this."
"I have." I take his hand, lacing my fingers through his. "I spent three years being helpless. Being a victim. Now I have power—real power—and I want to use it for something good. I want to make sure other women don't have to go through what I did."
"Then we'll make it happen." He brings my hand to his lips, kissing my knuckles. "Whatever you need. Whatever it takes. If this is important to you, it's important to me."
"Really?"
"Really." His eyes meet mine, steady and sure. "You're going to be my wife. Your dreams are my dreams. Your fights are my fights." He pulls me down for a soft kiss. "That's how this works."
I melt into him, overwhelmed by the certainty in his voice. The unwavering support. The knowledge that whatever I want to build, he'll help me build it.
"I love you," I whisper against his lips.
"I love you too. Always."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
The next morning, I wake before him.
For a while, I just watch him sleep.
The hard lines of his face softened by rest.
The steady rise and fall of his chest.
The way his hand reaches for me even in unconsciousness, like being close to me is as natural as breathing.
Six months ago, I was broken. Terrified. Convinced I was worthless, that I would never escape the nightmare my life had become.
Now I'm lying in bed with my fiancé, wearing his ring, planning our future.
The transformation still amazes me sometimes.
How quickly things can change.
How much healing is possible when you're surrounded by people who love you.
I think about the road that brought me here.
The pain. The fear.
The night I showed up on this doorstep with nothing but the clothes on my back and a desperate hope that someone would help me.
I think about Cain.
Not with fear—not anymore—but with a kind of distant sadness.
He could have been different. Could have been better.
But he chose cruelty, and in the end, that choice destroyed him.
I don't regret what happened to him.
I probably should—probably should feel guilty about the relief I felt when Levi told me he was gone.
But I don't. Some monsters need to be slain. Some darkness needs to be cut out before it can spread.
And some women need to be saved.
I was one of them, now I want to help save others.
Levi stirs beside me, his eyes fluttering open.
For a moment, he just looks at me—a soft, unguarded expression that makes my heart ache with love.
"Morning," he mumbles.
"Morning."
"How long have you been awake?"
"A while. I was thinking."
"About what?"
I smile, leaning down to kiss him. "About how lucky I am. About how far I've come. About all the things I want to do with this second chance."
He pulls me closer, tucking me against his chest. "Tell me about them."
So I do.
I tell him about the teaching job I'm going to land.
About the safe house I want to create.
About the women I'm going to help and the lives I'm going to change.
I tell him about the wedding I want—small and simple, just our people—and the life I'm going to build with him.
He listens to every word, asking questions, offering suggestions, making me feel like my dreams aren't just possible but inevitable.
This is what love looks like, I realize.
Not just passion, though there's plenty of that.
Not just protection, though he gives me that too.
But partnership. Support. Two people building something together, each one making the other stronger.
"I have one more thing to tell you," I say when I've finished.
"What's that?"
I take his hand, pressing it to my chest, right over my heart.
"Thank you," I say. "For saving me. For loving me. For giving me a reason to become the woman I always wanted to be."
His eyes soften. "You saved yourself, Ripley. I just gave you a place to do it."
"We saved each other, then."
"Yeah." He pulls me down for a kiss—slow and sweet and full of promise. "We saved each other."
We lie there as the morning light fills the room, wrapped in each other, dreaming of the future.
A future that once seemed impossible.
A future that's now mine to claim.
What I want, I keep.
And I want all of it.