Epilogue
Kelly
Seven Months Later
Ican’t believe I got a job at the biggest veterinary clinic in New York.
I suspect Alexei had something to do with it, but I don’t care. I get to learn way more, work with exotic animals and perform complex surgeries. It’s going to be incredible.
My new boss seems nice, though that’s not hard considering Gary set the bar pretty low.
The last few months have been perfect, mostly.
Though I did have to sit Alexei down and explain that he can’t kill someone because they spilled coffee on me or because they said no to giving me extra napkins, but I’m not really sure if he got the memo.
I walk through the house and look around trying to find him, but it’s empty. I listen for sounds and come up empty until I hear the rhythmic pounding of a hammer coming from outside.
I slide the door open and step into the garden where Alexei has been building a fenced area for Clover so she can run around outside without us worrying about her escaping.
He even added a small waterfall, which is so over the top.
I try to muffle my steps while I approach him. He’s crouched shirtless with his tattoos on display, wearing a backward black cap and black jeans that hang low on his hips. His muscles strain each time he leans forward to pick up another nail and slam it into the wooden fence.
I try to walk as carefully as possible without alerting him, but he stops mid-swing.
“Your sneaking around is as good as your cooking.”
Damn it. “Stop insulting my cooking.”
“It’s not an insult if it’s true.”
“What are you doing out here anyway?” I ask, rubbing the back of my head.
He stands up and looks down at me, that ridiculous V-cut in full display above his low-hanging jeans.
“I got Clover a friend.”
I blink. “What?”
“I said I got Clover a friend.”
“No, I got that part. What do you mean a friend though?”
He gestures toward the fenced area. A white lionhead rabbit sniffs around the bushes.
He did not …
He actually did.
I told him a few months ago that maybe we should get her a friend, but I didn’t think he was listening since he was busy packing weapons for his “office job” at the time.
“You did not just go steal a rabbit and shove it into the same space with Clover.”
“I didn’t steal her; I bought her. The woman at the store said she was a girl.”
“You can’t just throw two rabbits together, they’ll fight. They’re territorial.”
He scoffs and waves a hand dismissively. “They’ve been fine. Nothing’s happened.”
I look over at the white rabbit and pinch the bridge of my nose.
“Are you sure it’s a female?”
“The woman said so.”
“Please tell me you double checked,” I mumble, then open the gate to the fenced area.
I slowly approach the white rabbit and let it sniff my hand before picking it up carefully. I lift the rabbit up and inspect it closely, turning her around.
“Alexei, this is a male.”
He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Works fine. I was going to name her Bullet, so it can be a him and still keep the same name.”
“That’s not the problem here. Have you ever heard the phrase fuck like rabbits?”
“Who hasn’t.”
“Yes, exactly. Rabbits are very fertile. He’s probably already gotten her pregnant. It wouldn’t surprise me if it happened within hours.”
He scowls. “He assaulted her?” His hands reach for the rabbit, but I pull away and wrap my arms protectively around the small animal.
“What? No, he didn’t assault her. It’s just what rabbits do naturally.”
He snaps something in Russian while resting his hands on the back of his head like he’s trying not to explode.
“That woman is fucking dead. I will pay her a visit tonight.”
I wince. “Stop. We went over this. Killing innocent people is wrong.”
His eye twitches.
I carefully put the rabbit down, then walk over to him and grab his shoulders, pulling him into a hug.
I burst out laughing. I know he’s been struggling these last few months.
His father still won’t speak to him since that day, and it’s heartbreaking to witness.
So if buying another rabbit will cheer him up, I’ll let him have it, and we’ll even keep the name Bullet, no matter how ridiculous it is.
“Listen, it’s fine, and Bullet is actually a very nice name,” I say, trying to sound reassuring and totally lying.
He hums and wraps his arms around me, resting his head on top of my hair. I feel him breathing in my scent, and I can’t help but smile.
I look into his brown eyes. “Come shower with me?”
When he grunts, I grab his hand, lacing our fingers together as we walk into the house.
I slide the door open, and we head toward the bathroom, and as soon as we enter the small space, he’s on me.
He slides his hands down my back, firm and sure, grips lower, then lifts me. I wrap my legs around his waist and hook my arms around his neck, dragging him closer, greedy for the way he tastes.
He moves his mouth down, kissing and licking along my jaw, then my neck. His teeth sink in hard. He sucks at the skin, leaving a mark.
My body jerks as my cock reacts fast, already straining against my pants.
He pulls back and looks down at me with that soft expression. “We take this to the shower. Then I have a surprise for you.”
I don’t think I can handle more surprises today, but I know he means well.
“What’s the surprise?”
“Wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, zaychik.”
I have a feeling it involves the Empire State Building and a ring.
He’s horrible at hiding things. I found the ring box when I went into the garage looking for something and discovered it stashed where he keeps his weapons, along with a paper that had a date and “Empire State Building private sightseeing” written on it.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the only reason I was rambling about never seeing the view that night at the clinic was because he was pointing a gun at me.
I was in full panic mode and babbling about anything that came to mind. The real reason I’ve never been up there is because I’m terrified of heights but explaining that now feels like it would ruin whatever elaborate plan he’s put together.
I also stumbled across his … collection, for lack of a better term.
Alexei’s a goddamn kleptomaniac, and apparently, I’ve been his primary target since we met. Mystery solved on why my stuff kept vanishing.
The box was tucked under his workbench in the garage like a twisted time capsule.
My favorite coffee mug with the chip on the handle, still stained with dried rings crusted inside.
My old pillowcase that I thought the laundromat ate.
My grocery list, handwritten on a ripped piece of paper.
A few T-shirts and socks. Even my boxers and my freaking hairbrush, for fuck’s sake.
The weirdest part was that he’d kept them exactly how I left them. Coffee stains and all. Like he wanted to preserve pieces of me in their natural state.
I stared at it for a solid minute, trying to process that this terrifying man had been collecting pieces of me like some kind of obsessive crow.
Never mentioned it. Never will. It’s going straight into the vault of things we pretend doesn’t exist, right next to the delusion that he has a normal office job and isn’t from one of the oldest mafia dynasties.
“Okay,” I finally say softly and then pull him down for another kiss.
As his lips meet mine, I can’t help but think about how drastically my life has changed since he came into it.
I was surviving paycheck to paycheck, living in fear of David showing up at my door, drowning in debt, and counting down the days until he would finally kill me. Now I’m standing in a bathroom that’s bigger than my old apartment, kissing a man who is without a doubt the love of my life.
There are two rabbits in our backyard, one of whom is probably pregnant because Alexei can’t tell the difference between male and female rabbits.
I have a job I actually love, working with animals that challenge me instead of just patching up the same cats and dogs every day.
The debt is gone, David is gone, and for the first time in my life, I feel happy and complete.
The End