Epilogue Roe
I came to Double Bay as a crass teenage girl, completely oblivious to the secret lives led by the businessmen and women of our country. I am a changed girl now. I mean, the sassiness, stubborn streak, and utter refusal to fall in line? Yeah, that is never going to change. I am a rebel at heart, and no one can take that from me. Not that they didn't try. First, it was West and his Dukes, then Vincent and Foster. They all wanted to control me. The girl who could ruin them all.
Just over a month after I arrived, I am leaving again. Just for a short time. I will be back. I am not done with Double Bay and the Dukes. I will never be done with West. But I need time.
Time to heal. Time to think. Time to process how I would live with the shame and pain Vincent Mazzuchelli and Mr. Foster forced upon me.
East is coming with me. Her time in The Den may not have been as traumatic for her as it was for me, but she is hurting too. Forced to witness the events of that evening from Vincent's office has really taken a toll on her .
So, we are going away. West's first rehabilitation center is open and awaiting its first patients. This one was once a couple's retreat amongst the rainforests of northern Queensland, so there hadn't been as much construction needed as the other centers he had planned, most of which were vacant acres of bushland.
Some of the other girls and boys from The Den would be there, too, ready to take a new step towards recovery.
There was a strict, no men allowed, rule on the grounds of each center, besides the boys who had been subjected to The Den, of course. As the customers of The Den were prominently male, a lot of the girls were struggling to be around them in the hospitals and temporary shelters they had first been sent to after being rescued. But at Wests' rehabilitation retreats, they could recover and heal wholly without the sudden panic attacks at hearing a gruff male voice, or hearing their heavy footsteps, smelling their musky colognes.
I know West blames himself in part for what had happened to the girls and boys of The Den. His guilt is a hundred percent misplaced, but he won't hear a word of it. Not from his friends, not from his sister, and not from me. One day he will see reason. I will make sure of it.
But first, I am focusing on me .
My mother once told me that blue skies will always follow a storm.
I hope she is right.