Epilogue #2
“We’ll keep the company stable,” he continued. “Claire and I are working through most of the changes together.” His gaze steadied again. “She’s the light in all of this.”
I believed him. Mila was mine.
The silence stretched before Drew spoke again. “You know Lorne didn’t fall because of the financial records alone.”
I couldn’t let go of what Drew knew—and how.
“The investigation needed a body attached to the crime,” he continued evenly. “Someone the system could point to.”
“You were there,” I said slowly.
Drew didn’t look surprised. “Not quite how it went,” he answered.
“You knew where the body was.” I always wondered how they put those pieces together. Where the weapon came from that happened to have his fingerprints on them.
“Yes.” Drew studied the surface of the table. “Lorne understood the game better than most people. But he underestimated me.”
“And he just… accepted going to prison?”
“Of course not. Lorne doesn’t believe in taking the fall. He thinks I already proved my loyalty.” Drew’s mouth curved slightly. “I’m heading up the legal team.”
The phrasing made something cold slide through my chest. A memory surfaced. Drew at the scene that night Lorne was taken into custody. The aftermath he’d quietly taken control of.
The word landed with quiet certainty. The air between us shifted. “He arranged the meeting,” Drew continued calmly. “Darren thought he was negotiating leverage.”
My pulse slowed. “And Lorne wanted something else.”
“Yes.” A pause lingered over the table. “Sometimes powerful men don’t give you a choice,” Drew said quietly. “They just make sure you understand the consequences if you fail them.”
“What did he threaten?”
Neither of us moved. Drew’s eyes finally met mine again. “You.”
The pieces aligned with brutal clarity. Drew had been there. Lorne had orchestrated it. And when the moment came… Drew hadn’t been given a choice.
The truth hung silently between us. No confession. No denial. Just understanding.
Across the table, Drew watched me carefully. There was nothing detached about it—just steady certainty. He’d made the decision a long time ago—and never questioned it.
Finally Drew leaned back. “You got out, Luke.”
The statement carried something close to relief.
“Don’t come back. Not to the company.”
I thought about everything our family had built. The power. The influence. The quiet corruption that had lived beneath it. Then I thought about the girl painting in the house two blocks away.
“I won’t,” I answered.
I understood what my brother meant—don’t go back to the company because it wasn’t what I wanted from life. He knew that. Even if he was creating something I could also be proud of, it was about pursing a future I wanted, not one that was mandated.
“Drew.” My voice came out rougher than I intended.
“Yeah?”
I held his gaze. “I know what you did. Thank you.”
Drew didn’t look away. “You don’t owe me anything”
“Doesn’t matter.”
A faint curve touched his mouth. “I’ve got you.”
“I know.”
He finished his drink before standing. When he passed me, his hand landed briefly on my shoulder. Not light. Not casual. Then he was gone.
The house was quiet by the time I returned.
Jax’s SUV sat crooked in the driveway. Theo’s gear bag rested by the door where he’d dropped it after practice. Somewhere upstairs a floorboard creaked—someone still awake, probably Chase finishing a late workout.
The lamp in the living room glowed softly.
Mila had fallen asleep on the couch with a blanket pulled around her shoulders, one of my hoodies wrapped loosely around her.
Her sketchbook rested open beside her. I set it carefully on the table before crouching beside the couch.
I just watched her. The girl who had walked back into Blackwood carrying more truth than anyone in that town wanted to face. The girl who refused to let me become the man my family expected.
She stirred slightly when I brushed a strand of hair away from her face.
“Luke?”
“I’m here.”
Her eyes opened halfway. “How was it?”
I thought about Drew. About what he’d taken on so I didn’t have to—and what that meant for both of us.
Then I answered simply. “It’s over.”
She sighed sleepily and curled closer against me. I lifted her carefully and carried her upstairs.
The room smelled faintly of autumn air drifting through the open window.
When I got into bed beside her, Mila shifted instinctively beneath my arm, settling against my side the way she always did.
Outside, the quiet campus stretched into the distance. Blackwood felt very far away now.
Down the hall, someone laughed quietly in their sleep. A floorboard creaked beneath the weight of another late-night wanderer from the team.
Blackwood had taken almost everything from us. But it had also given me the one person I would never walk away from.
The house was full. Loud. Chaotic. Ours.
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