Epilogue
I wasn’t speeding on purpose, Officer . It was the music.
— Maven to Auden when he pulls her over going 23 over the posted speed limit
MAVEN
7 years later
Getting out of the house with three children was always a rather daunting task.
Today , however, it was worse than even I expected.
It was only after I had the kids all strapped into their seats that I asked my youngest child a question.
“ Guess what, baby?” I asked my toddler, who was so much like my husband it hurt.
For someone who didn’t want a third child, this one turned out to be exactly like him. Redford Carter was Auden’s little sidekick.
He did everything his daddy did, and only what his daddy did.
His first word was ‘daddy.’
His second word was ‘my.’
He then paired those two words every time I was in the vicinity of his ‘my daddy.’
“ What ?” Redford asked grumpily.
I’d had to wake him up from his nap, and like his father, he didn’t like it.
Auden glanced into his rearview mirror as he started to accelerate to get onto the interstate.
“ I love you!” I sang to him, reaching over to grab Auden’s hand as he merged.
Auden squeezed my fingers, keeping his eyes on the road.
Redford’s cute little voice came so sweet from the back seat.
“ Aww , that’s sweet, Mom !” he sang. “ Guess what?”
I looked at my dear little Redford over my shoulder and asked, “ What ?”
“ I’m gonna kick your ass!”
Auden choked on his own spit, coughing and spluttering as he tried and failed not to laugh.
I rolled my eyes.
“ I fucking hate you sometimes,” I muttered under my breath to my husband. “ Seriously , I do everything for this kid. I walk the halls with him at night when he has colic. I bathe him. Clean him. Feed him for two damn years from my own bosom. I pour my heart and soul into this third kid of mine because that was our deal when we had him. I do all the work. You reap all the sweet benefits. And what has it got me? Nothing . Redford likes you more than me, and how is that fair?”
Auden bit his lip to keep the laughter from bubbling free.
“ He looks like you. He acts like you. He wants to be you. And here I am, having to live with it because he’s what I wanted!” I grumbled.
Auden was silently laughing his ass off.
However , our other baby, Lola , said, “ I love you, Mommy .”
I looked over at our first born, our darling six-year-old, and said, “ Are you excited to go today?”
The Carter clan, and the Semyonov clan, were all heading to the water park.
Why ?
Because it was our middle child, Brando’s , birthday. And he wanted to go.
Everyone had the day off.
Shasha and Jessa had flown in from out of town. Nastya , Dima , and Milena were all back from their overseas trip.
And the Carters had all asked off of work.
Dorsey had come in from Gatlinburg with her beau.
The only problem was I had a feeling we’d be forcing my grandmother to take it easy, when in reality I knew I’d have to coax her off of the aggressive waterpark rides.
Jessa was now one hundred-five years old, and acted like she was twenty-two.
I’d had six years with her, and I already dreaded the day we would lose her.
I was also somewhat jealous of the fact that my brothers and sisters got to have her for as long as they had.
“ We’re here,” Auden said, breaking into my thoughts.
Except , when we arrived, it was to find the entire waterpark empty.
“ Umm ,” I said as I took it in. “ What’s going on?”
“ I booked the entire park to ourselves,” Shasha came up in a bright pink pair of swim shorts. “ There’s no way I’m dealing with that many kids. And just sayin’, but there will not be a kidnapping on my watch.”
I patted his shoulder.
He and Auden were exactly the same.
If it can happen to you, it can happen to our kids.
It was a constant battle with my husband to allow the kids to breathe, but also to allow Auden the peace of mind in knowing that his children were safe.
A delicate balance that I sometimes had to bite my tongue to keep me from harping on the issue.
I was the one who’d been kidnapped.
I hadn’t felt what they felt.
Sometimes I felt like I maybe didn’t have the right to be upset with them.
“ Sunshine ?”
I looked over at my husband and smiled.
“ Yeah ?”
“ Let’s go swim.”
I took his hand and walked into the water park.
And , admittedly, it was a whole lot of fun.
Jessa only tried to get on two banned slides.
She managed to go down them both.
And she sang “ Happy Birthday ” to my son at the end of the day.
It was as Brando blew out the candles on a cake I’d baked that I realized… I’d made it.
I had the life I’d always dreamed about.
“ I know I have expressed my doubts about your brother’s line of work before,” Auden said lightly as he pulled the covers back on the bed. “ But seriously. The fact that he’s able to get this information… Maven , I think it’s time to admit that your family is Bratva .”
My head whipped around toward him. “ What ?”
“ This was an unsolvable case,” he said. “ I mean, by all rights and purposes, this woman shouldn’t have her daughter back. Yet Shasha and Dima stepped in and took over the parts where I couldn’t step out of line. Something is seriously out of place with them, and I think they’re keeping us in the dark because of who I am and what I do.”
“ Bratva ?” I asked. “ That’s outlandish.”
Auden , with his deliciously tanned skin, slid between the cool white sheets next to me and said, “ I asked for information on a case because I had this hunch. I mean, literally, it was unsolvable. Then days later, Shasha comes back with a clue that every single highly trained individual missed. How is that?”
I snorted out a laugh. “ He’s got contacts, Auden .”
Auden caught me around the waist and pulled me into the bed beside him.
“ Contacts that will murder you if you look at them wrong,” he mused, his eyes trailing over my sun-kissed skin. “ You’re gonna have one hell of a burn tomorrow.”
I shrugged. “ Worth it.”
My baby white skin didn’t tan. It burned.
It didn’t matter how much sunscreen I applied.
Funny enough, Shasha , Milena , Nastya and Dima were all burned, too.
Then there were Dorsey and Athena with their beautifully tanned skin showing off their superiorness.
“ It was totally worth it.” His mouth swept down and captured my mouth. “ What’s your name, sunshine?”
I still didn’t have an answer.
Maybe it would be Maven forever.
I was sure on the last name, though.
“ Mrs . Auden Carter .”
His eyes lit. “ Good answer.”