Bonus Epilogue
T wo weeks later…
“Hey, sprite, how was school today?”
“Dad!” Stacy ran across the backyard and right into his arms.
Nick scooped her up and kissed her cheek. He’d taken an extra week off work to spend time at home with her and Aria after the honeymoon.
Stacy had loved spending time with her grandparents and aunts and uncles. But she missed them.
And even though Nick had kept them busy the whole time they were gone, he and Aria missed her, too. They even felt guilty for leaving her at home. So they made sure to bring her a few gifts from the island.
She was wearing her dolphin ring right now.
“Mom says you have something you want to show me.”
Nick kissed Aria as she joined them near the backyard fire pit. He held both his girls in his arms and looked into Stacy’s pretty green eyes. “Aria and I have something to tell you.”
“Is everything okay? The adoption is done. You said so.” Her worried gaze made his heart clench.
Aria put her hand on Stacy’s cheek. “Yes, sweet girl. The adoption is done. It can’t be undone. You’re ours.”
“Stuck with us forever,” Nick added, hoping that reassured her.
It was taking Stacy a little while to process everything that happened to her. Therapy brought up a lot of emotions for her. They took things one day at a time, always checking in with Stacy to be sure they were giving her the help and support she needed.
She’d been through so much in her short life. And unfortunately, Nick only had more bad news for her today.
But they’d promised her they’d always be open and honest about the case, her father, and anything having to do with her.
“Then what is it?” she asked, wariness in her eyes.
“It’s official. Your father made a deal with the prosecutor. He plead guilty to the charges against him and agreed to spend the next five years in prison. They’re going to move him tomorrow.”
Stacy sucked in her lips and looked from Aria to him. “Did he say anything?”
“I didn’t talk to him, sprite. His lawyer called me to tell me.”
Aria brushed a lock of Stacy’s hair behind her ear. “Do you want to talk to him?”
Stacy shook her head. “No. I…”
“What is it, sprite?” he asked.
“I just…I like it here so much I forgot.”
“You forgot what?” Aria asked.
“Him.” Her bottom lip trembled. “Is that bad?”
Nick hugged her close. “No, sweetheart. It’s been a long time since you saw him. And when you did, it scared you. And I get that being here lets you kind of forget the bad things. You want to focus on the good things.”
“I can’t forget that other stuff though.”
Aria rubbed her hand up and down Stacy’s back. “We know, sweet girl. And it’s okay when those memories come back and you’re sad and angry and just want them to go away. Those things happened and you will deal with them as they come in the best way you know how and with our support and with your therapist. As for your dad…he hurt you. You can be mad and upset and hurt as long as you want to be about it.”
Nick nodded. “I asked him to do something for you.”
“What?”
“I asked him to wait to talk to you again until you were ready. You get to decide when and if you talk to him again.” Nick wanted her to know she had control. No one, not even her father, could force her to interact with him.
She’d been forced to do things against her will far too many times.
Stacy breathed a sigh of relief. “I have nothing to say to him.” Maybe not now, but in the future, she might have a lot to say to the man who turned his back on her and handed her into the arms of a monster.
“Okay,” Nick agreed. “If you ever change your mind, you just let us know and we’ll make it happen. If you never change your mind, that’s okay, too.”
“You’re my parents now. I like it here. I don’t want to go back.”
Aria brushed her hand over Stacy’s head. “You don’t have to, sweet girl.”
Nick wasn’t sure how she’d take the next bit of news he’d been holding on to since he met with her father. “There’s one more thing you need to know, sprite. Do you remember your mother?”
“Kinda. Why? I haven’t seen her in a long time. She left us. Is she back? Is she going to try to take me from you?” Her hands trembled as she clasped them together.
Nick and Aria both shook their heads, trying to stave off Stacy falling into a panic attack.
Aria cupped her face. “No one is taking you from us. Ever. Not your dad. Not your mom. She can’t, sweet girl, because she got sick with cancer and she died.”
Tears welled in Stacy’s eyes. “She did?”
“Yes. It was several months ago. Before I found you,” Nick explained.
Stacy looked at him with her sad eyes. “I used to wish that she’d somehow find me and save me, even though I knew she didn’t want me. She just wanted out. She used to say that all the time.”
Nick didn’t understand how the two people in her life both wanted to unburden themselves of her. Such selfishness. So much damage they inflicted on her.
Aria tried to turn things around. “Your dad and I thought that perhaps you’d like to say goodbye.”
Nick set Stacy down and took her hand. “Come see.” He led her over to the garden, where he’d left a rose bush and the rock with MOM engraved into it.
Aria kneeled next to the hole he’d dug earlier. “We thought as a remembrance of her, we’d plant a white rose bush and place this marker for her.”
“Like a funeral.”
“A memorial. And anytime you feel like you want to talk to her, you could come out here and visit her. Even if you just want to sit and think about her.”
“I don’t want to do that. She left me. She never came back. She didn’t care.” Tears welled in her eyes and spilled over.
“Tell her,” Nick encouraged. “Whatever you want to say to her.”
Stacy looked from him, then at the rock. “You left me with him. Why didn’t you take me, too? Why did you let him do that to me?” she yelled. “I hate you!” Her whole body vibrated.
Nick’s heart cracked. He hated seeing her upset.
Aria’s eyes were filled with concern, but also admiration. “That’s it, sweet girl. Let it out. She can take it, because she’s your mom and she knows what she did was wrong. She knows she hurt you.”
Stacy was all out of anger. “Why didn’t you come back?” The softly spoken words were so filled with pain, Nick felt the ache of them in his bones.
“We’ll never know the answer to that question, sweet girl. But what if she did want to come back and just didn’t know how after she hurt you so much? What if you could find a way to believe that answer, knowing that she ran out of time when she got sick? And maybe if you could believe that, you can believe that she regretted leaving you, that she thought about you all the time, and that she wished she was with you. And now, maybe, she’s looking down on you and watching her little girl not just survive, but thrive in her new life. Maybe you can look up to the sky and tell her, ‘I’m still here. I made it. I survived. I did it.’”
Stacy tipped her head back and said, “I’m still here.”
“Say it louder, sprite, so she can hear you.”
“I’m still here,” she yelled.
“Louder, sweet girl. Let her know you mean it.”
Stacy sucked in a deep breath, her tears drying on her cheeks. “I’m. Still. Here!”
Nick scooped her up and held her close. Aria hugged both of them, making a Stacy sandwich.
“That’s my girl.” Nick grinned at her. “You are still here.”
“You made it, sweet girl. You overcame the odds. You kept fighting. You never gave up. Your mom, your dad, all those people who hurt you, none of them are as strong and resilient as you.”
“Because you’re amazing, sprite.” Nick buried his face in her soft hair and hugged her hard.
Stacy’s smile bloomed soft and sweet on her face. “Thank you for saving me. And keeping me.”
Aria squeezed them both tighter. “You’re ours, sweet girl. Forever. We will never let you go. We will never walk away. We will always be yours.”
“I know.”
Nick didn’t know what to do with all the emotions inside him.
She trusted them.
They would never betray that trust. They’d give her a good life. They’d be her everything, the way she was theirs.
Which meant he had a promise to keep.
Nick got a call last night from his boss, asking one more time, “Don’t you want to lead one of the raids?”
Nick didn’t have to think for even a moment. “No, sir. I need to be with my wife and daughter when it all goes public. They need me.”
The morning news broke the story across the country with FBI arrests happening in multiple states. Tech moguls, millionaires, corporate executives, government officials, influencers, and even a couple of celebrities were taken into custody, linked either to one of the four children who hadn’t forgotten a name or to Javier Lopez’s operation. The coordinated arrests were a warning to other traffickers and those who preyed on children. The FBI was coming for them. The case was the largest of its kind in holding pedophiles accountable for destroying the lives of children.
And the arrests would keep coming as they went through the digital files and linked the people they’d arrested to others who liked to share child pornography.
Nick felt especially good about himself and his job today. He felt immense pride in the four children standing in front of him in the middle of a field on Wilde Wind Ranch where Nicole, Emma, and Toby’s families were staying for a few days, so all the kids could spend some time together.
So he could tell them that the men who’d hurt them were all under arrest. And give them a special surprise.
He spotted their special guest in the distance and signaled all the parents it was time as he asked the kids to join him in the field. “I hope you’re all having a good time on the ranch.” They’d arrived yesterday and spent this morning on a trail ride with Jax and Aria.
They were expecting a dinner by the campfire and s’mores later.
But first… “I made you guys a promise, that the FBI would hunt down every single person on your lists. They hurt you. And you wanted to hurt them back. And that’s the reason I wanted you all together today. This morning the FBI started arresting all the people connected to Javier Lopez’s operation. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.”
The kids all started looking at each other, then turned back to him, smiling.
“All of them?” Nicole asked.
“Yes. Because you had the brilliant idea to make sure you each remember the names.” He met her gaze, letting her know how much he meant those words. “It took some time to gather the evidence and identify the men you only had first names on, but we did it, because we wanted you four to know that you hadn’t survived that hell for nothing. We didn’t want a single person to get away with what they did to you. And from those arrests, there will be others.”
“How many today?” Emma asked.
“A staggering three hundred and fifty-seven across the country.”
“Will they stay in jail forever?” Toby asked. He’d had the hardest time transitioning at home. He’d been taken so young. Used and abused, until he simply didn’t know anything but that horrible world.
Nick gave him the truth. “Not forever, Toby. Not for all of them. But now people know who they are. People know they’re monsters. They will never escape that.”
“So what now?” Stacy asked.
“It’s over. Javier’s operation has been toppled. He’s in prison for the rest of his life. And because of you four, sixty-two minors have been rescued, most returned to their families.” Nick looked at each one of them. “You did that. You saved them. You stopped a very bad man from taking and hurting anyone else.
“So when things seem hard, when you feel really down, I want you to think about the sixty-two young people, who are just like you, that you saved. I want you to remember that you helped each other, and then you helped people you didn’t even know. That’s who you are. That’s the amazing thing you did. That’s part of the story of the life you survived. When all you can think about is the bad, I want you to remember the good you did, the courage you showed, because you guys are the real heroes, not the agents who carried out the arrests. You made it happen.”
The wind kicked up along with the roar of the helicopter coming in for a landing behind him.
“Is that Hawk?” Toby grinned from ear to ear.
“Yes, it is. Remember how I promised you all a helicopter ride? Well, here we go.” Nick took Toby and Stacy by the hand.
Aria rushed over and took Nicole and Emma’s hands, and they all walked out to the helicopter, ducking their heads against the downwash of the blades.
He buckled in Toby and Stacy while Aria helped Nicole and Emma. They all put on their headsets, grinning so big their cheeks were going to hurt later.
Nick caught Aria before she rushed back to the parents all waiting to wave their kids off for the ride Hawk had planned to let them see some of the beautiful country surrounding them.
He pulled Aria into a kiss. “I love you,” he mouthed, because it was too noisy to even try to yell over the chopper’s engine and blades.
“I love you, too. See you soon.”
Yeah, he’d been in heaven every day since she moved in with him.
He loved having her as his wife. He loved the life they were making together.
Most of all, he loved how much he loved being part of their family.
They were happy.
He kissed her one last time, then climbed into the copilot seat and fist-bumped Hawk, mouthing, “Thank you.”
Hawk handed him a headset, verified that Aria had sealed the back door and gotten clear of the helicopter, then he turned to their honored guests. “You guys ready to fly?”
These kids were ready to soar. One day soon, they were going to be okay again. One day, they were going to use all that strength and perseverance and live as warriors.