Epilogue
Rio de Janeiro
Six Years Later
Forever Young – David Guetta, Alphaville, Ava Max
Warm gusts of wind rolled over the surrounding mountains, blowing my curls in every direction. I closed my eyes and relished the scent of the ocean below. It smelled like home.
It wasn’t my first time back in Brazil after meeting Santino and all the events that followed—changing my life for the better—but it was the first time we were here as a family.
All of us.
I swung my gaze to the infinity pool where Valentina and her partner-in-crime splashed around, pretending to be mermaids. Well, Remi preferred to be a shark most days. The four-year-old was the spitting image of her mother, but with eyes as blue as the ocean, just like Kai. A smile crested my lips as I watched my niece dance to the music from a nearby speaker, followed by an amused laugh when she tossed Maksim’s glasses over the pool’s edge. From the day she was born, that little girl had given her parents pure hell. And I loved watching my brother be the best father, be everything he never had.
He and Derek deserved every bit of happiness because, despite the cards life had dealt, my boys crawled out on the other side of darkness. We all had, in one way or another. We’d severed our ties to a world that had once demanded blood in exchange for our souls. And maybe we didn’t get to come back from the things we’d done, and one day, we’d have to atone for our past, but for now, we couldn’t ask for anything more. The world kept spinning, brighter, happier, and we’d enjoy the ride until it was over.
Little hands tugged on my skirt. I glanced down, and another set of baby blues stared back. “Giovanni, up from your nap already?”
The one-year-old had been asleep on a cot under the cabana. I lifted him into my arms and kissed his button nose. Baby Gio was the perfect blend of Kai and Amalia, and his broad, gummy smile resembled his late uncle’s.
“Where is your mom?”
He giggled at the mention of his favorite person and instinctively searched for her, his gaze landing on his cousin and sister in the water.
“Don’t worry,” I assured him, placing a hand on my belly, “In about three months, you’ll have your own best friend.”
His giggles were contagious, and I tickled him some more.
“I don’t know what’s more beautiful, you pregnant with my child or the vision of you holding a baby.”
The years gone by didn’t matter. Santino’s words always made my heart flutter. I grinned, wetting my lips in anticipation as he approached.
“Are you on baby duty, preziosa ?”
I nuzzled Gio’s soft black curls. “I am, but I don’t mind it one bit. This little guy is the sweetest kid in the world. He makes me so anxious to hold our little boy already.”
Santino laughed. “And what if he’s a hellion?”
“That’s okay, too,” I said, reaching for his chin and requesting a kiss. My husband obliged and caressed my belly .
Some days, I was still amazed I was someone’s wife—his wife. We’d found love in the dark, at a time when the thought of being with a man was a literal nightmare. But Santino showed me how to trust and how to love again, and I’d dedicate the rest of my life to repaying his unconditional devotion.
“I have two surprises for you, amore. But first, let me take Gio to his father.”
“A surprise? What’s the occasion?”
Santino shifted the baby to his arm and shot me a playful grimace. “Since when have I ever needed a reason to shower my wife with gifts?”
With a laugh, I clapped his cheek and kissed him. “I love you,” I whispered over his lips.
“You’ll love me even more after your second gift.”
“Can’t wait.”
Santino stole one more kiss and headed inside, but not before tossing Gio a good three feet into the air, catching him and doing it a second time, sending my first-time mom nerves into a frenzy.
“I’ll kill him,” I said with a chuckle and a hand over my baby.
Twisting around, I let the gorgeous ocean view settle my heart.
“That makes two of us.” Amalia shoulder-checked me and rested her arms on the banister, Leni on my left and Eva beside her.
None of us said a word as we watched the rolling waves below. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been apprehensive about joining their close-knit friend group. But they’d welcomed me with open arms, and over the years, our bond had strengthened, making me feel as if I’d been part of this unique sisterhood from the beginning.
I leaned my head on Leni’s shoulder. “I heard Maksim is leaving for Moscow next week. How are you holding up?”
She sighed. “I’m okay. I think it’ll be good for him.” A wistful smile crossed her lips as she watched her son by the pool. Maksim was no longer that shy and withdrawn kid I met six years ago. He was handsome, driven, ambitious, with the world at his feet, courtesy of an unexpected inheritance. “The girls will miss him, though. ”
“They sure will. They love their Maxy.” Eva laughed, waving to Valentina, who was squirting Maksim in the face with a water gun.
“Ready, preziosa ?”
We all turned around at the sound of Santino’s voice, where he stood with a duffel bag on his shoulder.
His surprise required a change of clothes. But I couldn’t imagine sleeping anywhere else when we had this beautiful home. Intrigued, I met him at the bottom of the small steps and took his offered hand.
“Where to?”
“You’ll see.”
Amalia followed, gently touching my belly and side-eyeing Santino with a playful grimace. “Wherever you go, make sure you’re back by dinner tomorrow. It’s our last night in paradise, and the last time we’ll all be together with Maksim for a while.”
“I can’t make any promises,” he said, kissing my neck.
I giggled and shook my head. “Don’t listen to him. We’ll be here. Promise.”
Amalia had intended to respond, but her eyes fixed beyond me and widened. “Remi Isabel Cain!”
My niece squealed from behind me, followed by her little feet skittering across the pool deck.
We pulled into a cul-de-sac in front of a small blue house. I didn’t recognize the street or any of the homes.
“Where are we?”
“Wait here. I’ll be right out.”
I trusted this man with my life, so I didn’t question him further and watched as he disappeared through a white gate, only to emerge seconds later with a baby-faced boy who seemed tall for his age. His brown curls hung over his forehead, complementing his beautifully bronzed complexion. My first instinct was to ask for his name, but it hit me when I met his eyes.
“Thiago?”
I looked up at my husband, who wore a smug grin.
“How did you find him?”
After Detective Braga’s death, Thiago was taken into protective custody. Guilt weighed heavily on my heart for a long time when I thought he’d become another victim of a broken system. It wasn’t until a year or two later, we discovered he was living with an aunt out of state. We were assured he was happy and well taken care of. But I’d always thought of him from time to time.
“As they say, I heard through the grapevine that he was vacationing with family. Pulled some strings, and here we are.”
I approached the boy—the little escape artist—whom I’d last seen as a toddler and smiled.
“You knew my dad?”
“I did. We were neighbors. And he was a good man.”
He nodded. I was happy to see that the subject of his father brightened his mood rather than made him sad. We spent the next hour with Thiago and took him out for ice cream. I didn’t know when or if I’d see him again, but he seemed to be thriving, and that was all I could have hoped for. Having finally learned his fate was like closing the last open door of that chapter of my life.
“Thank you for that,” I whispered, threading my fingers with Santino’s and kissing his hand. “I’ve always wondered about him, but I didn’t know that seeing him in person was exactly what I needed. This must have taken a while to coordinate…and after all this time.” I brushed my fingertips along his lips and sighed. “Have I ever told you’re the best?”
“Not today.”
Taking advantage of the blacked-out car windows and raised partition blocking our driver’s view, I straddled my husband’s lap—an act that was harder to do these days, but well worth the effort. “Let me remedy that.” I peppered kisses along his jaw and rocked against his hardening cock. “You’re the absolute fucking best. I love you.”
He squeezed my hips, holding me over his erection. “It’s a good thing we’re almost there, or else I’d fuck you right here on the cabin floor of this car.”
Grinning against his lips, I ground harder over his dick, teasing him until his deep growl vibrated down my throat.
“Why wait?”
“No time for me to fuck you the way you deserve, preziosa ,” he said with his hand around my neck and a tighter grip on my thigh. “And I’m never half-ass making love to my wife.” His teeth gently tugged on my lip. “Not a single day will ever go by when you question my love for you. You hear me? Whether I’m fucking you bent over our bed or taking my time devouring you on the kitchen table—and everywhere in between.”
“The. Absolute. Fucking . Best,” I repeated, punctuating every word as I nibbled up his neck.
I’d been so busy humping my husband that I hadn’t noticed we’d driven onto a narrow dirt road surrounded by trees until the car came to a stop on the uneven ground, jostling me from side to side.
Santino held me close and kissed my forehead. “Surprise.”
“Where are we?”
“Come on.”
We exited the vehicle, and the car quickly pulled off as if he’d been given clear instructions. And it was just Santino and me standing in the middle of a jungle.
“I haven’t knifed a man in a few years, baby. But this is slightly suspicious, and I never leave home without my lucky blade.”
He roared a laugh and tugged me through the brush until we reached a small clearing and pointed toward a large property at the top of a rocky mountain. It was our rental home.
“How did we get back here?”
“You trust me?” he asked, guiding me back through the trees.
“Of course.”
In one quick swoop, Santino lifted me bridal-style and carried me across the road toward another dirt trail. We walked for several minutes until the trees broke again, and the sound of rushing water caught my attention.
He set me down gingerly as I stood in awe at one of the most beautiful views I’d ever seen—a crystal blue lake with a majestic waterfall.
“It’s yours.”
“Mine?”
The duffel bag dropped to the ground, and he took my hand. “Yours. I purchased this lot of land, house included, and renamed this little slice of paradise after you, Athena.”
The name was no longer a reason to withdraw and shudder at memories. I embraced my resilience through hell and learned to love her again.
To love myself.
Amara had kept the light on for me all those years. She was who I needed to be at the time. She kept me strong and, in one piece, fighting my demons while dancing with them through the flames. But her time was over.
Athena was here now. For good.
“Santi, this is incredible. Thank you—”
Again, my feet left the ground as he carried me into the cool water.
“Wait, our clothes.”
“Not important,” he said, wading deeper until the ripples reached his waistline. “ Mía preziosa , all of this is yours. I told you I’d give you the world, didn’t I? I thought this little corner of what had once been your home would be the perfect addition.”
Santino and I spent most of the year enjoying the Amalfi Coast, and alternating between our homes in Philadelphia, Miami, and now Brazil.
“It’s gorgeous,” I said as I combed my fingers through his hair. “But you know I don’t need the world when I have everything I want right here in my arms.” I placed a hand between us, feeling my son’s lively kicks. “And right here.”
A riveting smile lit up his face. “I know, just as I know there are things, painful memories you’ll never forget. But I’m going to overflow your cup, amore . So that all you see and feel is us.” His hand pressed against mine, over our baby. “Our love.”
“I love you,” I whispered again as he submerged us beneath the water and kissed me, palming my ass until the need for oxygen forced us back to the surface.
“Perfect. Just the way I like you, dripping wet.” He licked the droplets from the crook of my neck. “Fuck, I love you.”
I threw my head back when his mouth covered my sensitive nipple, and he nipped at the drenched fabric, swiping with his tongue and using his teeth to taunt it to a peak. Pregnancy hormones drove me crazy some days, but the biggest perk was my heightened sex drive. I wanted to jump my husband’s goddamn bones at every turn. The bigger I got, the more creative we became to accommodate my growing belly. And I fucking loved it.
We shed our clothes and let them drift downstream. The duffel bag now made total sense.
“If you don’t fuck me in my own lake soon, I’ll kill you,” I warned between shallow pants.
Santino laughed and flicked the tip of my nipple with his tongue before moving us toward the tumbling water.
“Ready?” he said, ducking beneath the rushing spray and resurfacing on the other side of the falls.
A small cavern was carved into the rocks, and the water served as a curtain between us and the forest. He laid me on the slick rock and wasted no time diving between my thighs.
“Oh, fuck,” I whimpered as he feasted and threw one leg over his shoulder.
“Sit up,” he snapped, running his tongue toward my clit with one hard lick. “Eyes on me. I want you to watch while I eat this sweet little cunt of yours.”
My belly didn’t make the task an easy one, coupled with my shuddering thighs. What he was asking was nearly impossible. But again, worth the fucking effort to latch on to his hair and watch him devour me like his favorite dessert.
“I’ve been dying to taste you all day, preziosa .” He spit and licked. “The downside to vacationing with guests.” Spreading me open, he suctioned my clit hard into his mouth. “Can’t have my fucking pussy whenever I want.”
With a rolling moan, I closed my eyes and bit my lip, feeling my orgasm rising. “Fuck…fuck. So good, baby.”
“Eyes, Athena.”
“I can’t,” I whined, my thighs shuddering uncontrollably, closing around his head with every stroke of his gifted tongue.
His wicked chuckle vibrated against my clit and sent me hurdling over the edge. I imagined the euphoria of diving from the top of the cliff overlooking the ocean was similar to this feeling of rising so fucking high only to free fall to earth.
I never wanted it to end.
With Santino’s name on my lips, I collapsed on the rock and heaved for breath as he lapped every drop. The more I tried to squirm away and lock my knees around him, the harder he ripped them back open, drinking until I was on the verge of another explosion.
“Open up for me.”
He pried my thighs open again, stroking himself and sliding against my dripping slit.
“I need you, Santi.”
When he slapped his cock against my pussy, I jolted.
“Say it.”
“Fuck…”
Another cock slap and his piercing nicked my sensitive clit, forcing an ungodly noise to leave my throat.
“Wait,” I whimpered, the hint of a smile on my face.
“Beg me for it.”
The sound of his hard dick against my pussy made me as feral as the electric spark it sent throughout my body .
“Fuck me, Santi.”
Slap.
“Say please,” he gritted out. The need was as painful for him as it was for me.
I bit my lip and spread wider for him. “Please.”
He filled me so fucking good, shifting my hips and sinking deeper. But we needed more, so he lifted my legs by his ears. Each stroke caused the rocky surface to dig into my shoulders, pain and pleasure coalescing. Santino’s lidded gaze moved between my eyes and bouncing breasts. They were two cup sizes bigger these days and had become another of my husband’s obsessions.
My orgasm barreled into me as I clawed at the rock, riding out every delicious wave.
“That’s my girl,” he praised between heavy breaths.
“ Eu te amo muito. ”
Santino lowered my legs and flipped me over, hauling my ass back and thrusting inside.
There were still nights when I’d wake up drenched in sweat, a scream crawling up my throat, and the memory of a nightmare stealing my peace. But those were few and far between. Santino was always there with strong arms and comforting words. His love had saved me.
Hands clutching my hips, he spilled inside me with a loud grunt, fucking me until every drop was spent.
We let the rhythmic sound of the water soothe us as he caressed my belly. Our son had a habit of taking a nap after Santino and I had sex. We’d joke that we rocked his little sanctuary so hard it put him to sleep. Maybe there was some truth to that, and I laughed at the thought.
I felt him smile in return and tug me closer.
“You’re so beautiful. Pregnant with my child, properly fucked, and my cum dripping out of your body. Life is fucking good, preziosa. Ti amo. ”
I turned to face him and cradled his cheeks. “It is. Thank you,” I whispered, my forehead resting on his, and tears in my eyes. “For this beautiful life, baby. Because of you, I found my way back to my family. And I found my way back to myself.”
When one door closes, another blows wide open…