Epilogue One
Brooke
One Year Later
The reflection in the mirror barely looks like me.
I'm wearing a black lace dress, fitted like sin and stitched to my bones. The gown hugs every curve, off the shoulders, with a slit that shows my leg when I move. The train rests behind me in a dark spill. A single black rose sits above my left ear, pinned into loose waves.
My eyes look darker than usual, and calmer too. I still look haunted, but I finally feel at peace.
“Damn, Morticia,” Travis’s voice cuts through the silence as he steps into the room behind me, already lighting a joint. “Look at you all ready to marry Gomez.”
He offers it to me without ceremony.
I take a long drag, hold it, and exhale slowly. “Sure am.”
He grins. “Seth’s definitely giving John Wick meets American Psycho. It’s terrifying. And kinda cool. But mostly terrifying.”
I smirk, still watching myself in the mirror. “If we didn’t already get fake-married once, this would feel insane.”
“Oh, it still does.” Travis leans against the wall beside me, taking another hit. “The priest Beau got for this thing? I’m ninety percent sure he’s one of Beau’s hits. The man looks like he’s being held hostage.”
“He probably is,” I say casually.
“Some things never change,” Travis mutters with a laugh, blowing smoke toward the ceiling. “This whole thing is like a fever dream.”
I turn to face him, narrowing my eyes with mock suspicion. “And what about you? You’ve been dating Naomi for how long now?”
Travis blinks, then squints at me through the haze. “Is this a setup?”
“Just asking.” I step closer, lowering my voice. “You two are disgusting together, by the way. In love, happy, cute. It’s sickening.”
He rolls his eyes but can’t hide the smile tugging at his mouth. “We may or may not be moving in together next week.”
“What?” I gasp, then launch myself at him, throwing my arms around his neck. “Trav! I’m so happy for you!”
He hugs me back tightly. “You deserve this too, you know.”
I feel it then, that sharp little pinch behind my ribs that used to mean I didn’t believe it. That I didn’t trust it. But this time, I did.
This time, it feels real.
Travis pulls back and gives me a look, the kind that says he is pretending not to get choked up. “Now let me walk you down the aisle to your serial killer husband before he decides to murder the priest out of impatience.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time someone’s died at one of our family gatherings.” I loop my arm through his. “Try not to cry.”
“No promises.”
We step outside just as the opening notes of “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby” drift through the speakers.
It’s dusk, that magic hour where the sky bleeds soft purples and blues behind the mountains. The wind moves through the grass in soft waves. The aisle is black velvet, lined with glass pillars and low black candles flickering against the dark.
The altar glows like a portal to another world. A massive heart of black roses rises at the center. Fog curls up from the lake like ghosts’ breath. A blood red neon sign glows through the mist. Til Death.
It feels dramatic. Gothic. Completely unhinged.
Exactly the kind of wedding I always imagined.
The guest list is small. Only the people who matter.
Miles sits beside his husband, Alonzo. Naomi sits next to them with Elise and Ryan beside her. All of them are dressed in black. All of them hold bouquets of black stemmed roses.
My little found family.
The only family I ever really needed.
Beau stands beside Seth with his arms folded across his chest, playing the role of best man with the same calm confidence he brings to everything else. Seth’s best man and hitman.
And Seth…
Seth looks like sin in a suit.
Black on black. No tie. His collar sits open just enough to show the edges of the tattoos climbing up his neck.
His eyes search for me.
And the second he sees me, he smiles.
The kind of smile that says he would break every law in the world just to kiss me.
The priest standing between us looks terrified.
I notice it immediately.
I kind of love that.
I feel perfect.
I feel alive.
And I walk toward my ending.
Or actually, my beginning.
The wind lifts the hem of my dress as Travis walks me down the aisle, his arm steady under mine. When we stop in front of Seth, Travis gives my hand one last squeeze before placing it into Seth’s.
For a second, the three of us stand there together.
Travis looks at Seth, then pats him once on the back, the kind of handoff that says more than anything either of them could put into words.
Take care of her. I know you will.
Seth gives him a small nod. Then Travis steps back and returns to the others.
The priest clears his throat.
His hands shake as he opens the book.
From the side, Beau watches him carefully with his arms still folded, his expression promising violence if anything goes off script.
Then Seth reaches for my hands.
His palms are warm and scarred. I lace my fingers through his without thinking.
My heart is loud in my ears, but it is not frantic.
It feels settled.
Like it finally understands where it belongs.
I look up at his face.
The last of the daylight catches along the edge of his jaw and the curve of his cheekbone. His dark hair falls loose across his forehead, slightly wind-tossed. The collar of his black shirt sits open at his throat, the ink along his neck visible above the fabric.
His gray eyes stay locked on mine.
The rest of the world could disappear and he wouldn’t notice.
There is something different in his expression tonight. The usual intensity is still there, that dangerous focus he carries everywhere, but something softer sits underneath it now.
Relief.
Possession.
Love.
His thumb moves slowly across the back of my hand, rough skin against mine.
For a second I just take him in.
This man tore the world apart for me. This man held me together when I was splintering. This man has seen me at my worst and never flinched.
If love is a choice, I’ve made it a thousand times already.
Every scar. Every dark thought. Every terrible choice that somehow led both of us here.
And the strangest part is that nothing about it feels wrong.
If anything, it feels exactly the way it was always supposed to be.
The priest asks if we’re ready to begin.
Seth answers before I can. “Yes.”
The priest nods and gestures to Seth. “You may begin your vows.”
Seth doesn’t look at any notes. He never does anything by script.
He looks at me.
“I don’t say things pretty,” he begins. “You know that. I just tell the truth.”
A quiet breath moves through the small crowd.
“I didn’t grow up believing in forever. I didn’t believe in fate. I didn’t believe in mercy. I believed in surviving and that was it.”
His thumb presses into my knuckle, grounding himself as much as me.
“Then I met you. And everything I thought I knew stopped working.”
My throat tightens.
“You saw me for exactly what I am and you stayed. You didn’t try to save me. You didn’t try to fix me. You chose me.”
His voice drops lower.
“I promise you this. I will never lie to you. I will never leave you. I will never make you feel small to make myself feel bigger.”
Tears blur my vision.
“I will protect you. I will fight beside you. I will build something new with you even if we have to do it a thousand times over.”
He exhales slowly.
“You’re my wife. You were before today. You will be after this. You’re mine in every possible way.”
He squeezes my hands.
“I love you more than I can ever express in words. I’ve already killed for you… a lot. I almost died for you and I’d do it again. Now I want to spend the rest of my life loving you.”
My eyes stay locked on his as I blink back tears. He looks nervous underneath all the confidence, I know this matters more to him than anything else ever has, and it shows.
The priest turns to me. “Brooke.”
I take a breath and lift my chin.
“I didn’t believe in love,” I admit. “I was raised to endure.”
Seth’s fingers tighten.
“I thought love was something that happened to other people. Not me.”
I shake my head slightly. “Then I met you.”
A quiet laugh slips out before I can stop it.
“You never pretended to be good. You never pretended to be gentle. You showed me exactly who you were and trusted me to decide.”
I swallow.
“I choose you. Not because you saved me. Not because you’d burn the world for me.”
I meet his eyes. “But because you see me. All of me. And you don’t ask me to be less. You helped me find my voice.”
Tears well up, I keep going.
“I promise to stand with you when it’s hard. I promise to tell you the truth even when it scares me. I promise to build a life with you.”
I smile through the tears. “I finally found my home and that’s you. You’re my home. And I’m never leaving.”
Seth looks at me as if my vows healed something inside him.
The priest clears his throat again, visibly overwhelmed. “Do you, Seth, take Brooke—”
“Yes,” Seth says immediately.
A soft ripple of laughter moves through the group.
“And do you, Brooke, take Seth—”
“Yes.”
The priest blinks, then exhales. “By the authority vested in me, you are now husband and wife.”
Seth doesn’t wait for permission.
He pulls me in and kisses me like he’s sealing a promise. His hand cups my jaw, thumb brushing once near my cheekbone. He pulls back just enough to look at me, eyes locked on mine.
“Hey, wife.”
My smile comes easy. “Hey, husband.”
He kisses me again, shorter this time, then rests his forehead against mine for a heartbeat before letting me go. When we turn, the people who stayed are still there. The ones who survived with us. The ones who chose us.
Beau whistles low. Elise wipes her eyes. Ryan smiles and stands a little taller. Miles squeezes his husband’s hand. Naomi smiles through tears while Travis tries to quickly wipe away his own while clapping.
Seth leans down, voice low. “Still glad you said yes?”
I laugh and press my lips to his again. “Always.”
The music fades behind us as we drift from the warmth of the ceremony, fingers laced.
We follow the path around the edge of the property, past trees strung with soft lights.
For once, there’s no plan. No blood. No body count.
Just us, walking into a life that doesn’t feel borrowed anymore.
The stars above are real. The calm in my chest is real.
It's just me and the man beside me, his hand in mine, his vows still echoing in my head.
Then he straightens and murmurs, “I’ve got a gift for you.”
I blink. “What?”
He doesn’t answer. He just takes my hand and starts walking, guiding me away from the lights and the warmth and the noise. The music fades behind us as we cut around the edge of the property, past trees strung with soft lights.
His grip stays firm. He leads me toward the parking lot, where a row of cars sits under dim lights.
Then I see it.
The long hood comes into view first, the black paint catching the last stretch of fading light. The shape of the body sits low and aggressive against the gravel, unmistakable even from several steps away.
My breath catches hard in my chest, and my feet stop moving before I realize it.
Seth turns his head toward me immediately. He watches my reaction closely, studying my face as if that matters more than the car sitting in front of us.
Parked just ahead of us is a 1969 black Barracuda.
My mouth opens, but my brain doesn’t catch up fast enough to find words.
“You didn’t,” I finally manage.
“I did. It was yours before everything went to hell. It’s still yours.”
My eyes burn. I swallow, because I refuse to cry right now. Not after surviving all of it. Not after finally getting something good.
Seth presses the keys into my palm. His fingers close over mine for a second. “You ready to take it on the road?”
I walk to the driver’s side like I’m afraid it’ll vanish if I move too fast. I open the door. The smell hits me first. Leather, old car and something expensive.
I slide in and grip the wheel.
Seth gets into the passenger seat and shuts the door. He looks over at me with that same look he gave me at the altar.
I turn the key.
The engine wakes up. The sound fills my chest.
I smile so wide it almost hurts.
Seth watches me, then his mouth twitches. “Let’s not die before our honeymoon, okay?”
I laugh once.
Then I floor it.
The tires bite and the Barracuda surges forward, and for a second I forget to breathe.
The parking lot lights streak past. The property falls away behind us. I keep both hands on the wheel. My grip is tight. My smile spreads across my face.
Seth braces one hand on the dash as we hit the road. “Jesus.”
“You know you love it when I scare you,” I remind him.
He looks over at me, and his eyes soften in a way that still catches me off guard.
The engine growls when I push it. The car responds instantly. The road opens into a long stretch with trees on both sides and nothing in front of us. Headlights carve through the dark and the world feels simple for the first time in a long time.
We take the curve and the Barracuda grips the road like it was built for nights like this. The window is cracked just enough to let the cold air slide in.
Seth’s hand lands on my thigh. His thumb presses once.
Then he reaches for the stereo.
The cabin fills with the first notes of “Sextape” by Deftones. He turns it up and finally looks at me. Not a quick glance. He holds my gaze for a beat, eyes dark and warm, like he is reminding himself we made it, together.
I keep my eyes on the road, but my throat tightens anyway. “You okay over there?”
Seth watches me for a second longer than necessary. “You look good driving this, Mrs. Sinclair.”
A laugh slips out of me. “I love my wedding gift, Mr. Sinclair.”
The name sits in my mouth and it doesn’t feel borrowed. It feels right.
We didn’t take his last name. Seth would never carry that name into a new life with me. Not after everything his father did.
His father killed my parents. His father built nightmares and called them lessons. Seth carried that name like a scar for most of his life.
So we left it behind. We took mine instead.
Sinclair was a choice. It meant a clean line between what came before and what comes next. It meant we don't have to drag the past forward with us.
We are finally free from our past.
Whatever we were before this doesn’t matter now. What matters is this. His hand in mine. Our vows in the air between us.
Everything we survived led us here, exactly where we belong. Living a dream we never knew could exist.
Seth the killer, my stalker, my lover, is finally my husband.
And I’m his wife.
Two lost souls who found each other in this lifetime.
And if there’s another one after this, we’ll find each other again.