Epilogue
Giana
One year later.
I turned off the computer with a sigh and leaned back in my chair as I stared at my calendar.
The afternoon sun shone brightly through the blinds, casting slatted shadows over the worn carpeted floor.
I couldn’t believe it had been a year since we took down Angelo and the Barones left East Haven, a year since we’d lain on the grass and stared up at the stars like they might hold the answers to the universe.
“Ms. Bardot.” My receptionist, Lisa, knocked on the door, her long blonde hair cascading over one shoulder as she gave me a tentative smile. “I have those building plans you asked for.”
The town hadn’t forgotten everything my guys and I did that night, either.
Of course, everyone was grateful, but they wouldn’t forget what we had to do, that we had made ourselves into the villains to fight off the crime family plaguing our town, and we could never fully come back from that.
There would always be a hint of bloodlust that still sang in our veins.
“Thanks.” I stretched as I stood, working out the kinks that had formed from hours at my computer. “You can leave them on the desk.”
Lisa grinned and placed the stack of paperwork on my desk.
It was the drawings and schematics for the new school that were planned to start construction next year.
For the first year in the town’s recent history, we had population growth.
After Lorenzo moved, a few minor crime families had tried to set up here, but we’d quickly sent them packing—the Devil’s Demons, along with the new chief of police that was.
Now we had builders planning new subdivisions, and the projected growth of new families was enough that the small elementary school wouldn’t have enough classrooms.
“Are you heading out?” There was a knowing twinkle in Lisa’s eyes as she backed through the open doorway.
It was the last Friday of the month, which meant one thing.
It was fight night. “Definitely.” I couldn’t keep the grin off my face even if I’d tried.
It had become a tradition that I left early on fight nights and went to see each of my guys before the main event.
And I knew they had something special in store for me since it was one year since we ended the Barone’s reign in East Haven.
“I’ll send any calls that come in for you to voicemail.” Lisa waved as she headed back to her desk. “Have fun tonight.”
“See you on Monday.” Warmth flooded my chest as I gathered my things and closed the door behind me. The gold nameplate on the door never failed to ignite a delighted spark in my chest. ‘Giana Bardot - Town Councilor.’
Since the mayor had died that night, celebrating with Angelo, an election was held not long after, where I’d decided to try my hand at politics. There was no better way to weed out the corruption still plaguing the town than to ingratiate myself into their ranks.
Which was probably another reason that the town was still wary of us. We had to hold another election shortly after I exposed five councilors for their role in keeping the Barones in power, and then they mysteriously ‘disappeared.’
My magenta heels clicked on the tiled floor as I strode out into the foyer of City Hall, waving to all the employees racing around the offices as they rushed to finish their work before the weekend.
I smoothed down my cream pencil skirt and silk blouse, making sure I hadn’t managed to spill anything on them before I headed to the guys.
I still wore my leather jacket, crop tops, and short skirts, but similar to when I went to visit the bank manager, clothes were like a weapon I wielded.
When I was verbally cutting down men twice my age in council meetings, it was best to look the part and have them sweating, rather than give anyone the chance to label me as unprofessional.
The cool autumn breeze wrapped around me as I strode out the front door, and waved thank you to the man who held it open for me.
Once the attacks slowed down, the Demons disbanded. Well, on paper, we were disbanded, but we all knew that if another threat arose, then we’d regroup to take care of them.
I walked over to my matte grey Porsche Cayenne and climbed inside.
It was one of my few extravagant purchases so far, apart from the few trips we’d been on.
The guys hated it when I spent my money on them, but that was what it was for.
I made anonymous donations to local projects as well as charities all over the world.
Louis was also great at investing, so the money was growing faster than I could give it away, but I was determined to do something good with it, something that Angelo and Tommaso would both hate.
The chime of my ringtone shook me from my thoughts as I pulled my phone from my purse to find Sophia’s name and her grinning face smiling back at me.
“Hey, Soph.” I placed my phone in the holder on the dash, propping it up so I didn’t have to hold it for the video call.
“These textbooks are killing me,” Sophia groaned as she flipped the camera to show me the stack of law books piled high atop her coffee table.
“Please tell me you’re just as miserable with all this studying.
I thought we put this all behind us after our undergrad.
Whose idea was it to go back to school while we still worked full-time, by the way? ”
“It was yours.” I chuckled and pressed the ignition.
Despite Merrick and Spade’s love of vintage cars, both Kellan and I had decided to go with something a little more modern, much to Merrick’s chagrin.
But when it was a choice between annoying Merrick and heated seats, heated seats won every single time.
Besides, annoying Merrick was one of my favorite things to do, especially when it ended with him smacking my ass and fucking me into the mattress or whatever hard surface was around at the time.
“Is it too late to quit?” she asked, flipping the camera back to her face as she dramatically laid her forehead against the stack of books.
“Yep, you’re not allowed to ditch me.”
Sophia had the idea to enroll in law school once she found out I was running for town council, and I’d joined her.
It would take us a bit longer since we couldn’t devote all our time to our studies, but it was the path we both wanted to take.
After we saw everything in East Haven and how corrupt the mayor and council had become, we were both determined to have a hand in stopping them.
And since Sophia didn’t have the stomach for gutting her victims, she’d use the law as her own arsenal.
“Fine,” she said, energy reinvigorating her as she sat up. “So it’s been a year today. How are you and the guys going to celebrate? Let me guess, you’re going to go on a murder spree. Find some bad guys who need their throats slit?”
One of the other town councilors, Henry, passed by my car at that exact moment, his bottom lip trembling as his eyes went wide, clearly having overheard what Sophia said now that her voice was amplified through the car’s sound system.
Okay, that was one downfall for newer cars.
I grinned and waved at him as I said, “You’re so funny, Sophia.”
She caught on, glancing to the side as though she could see what I was seeing. “I have to tease you every now and then. Those rumors are so crazy.”
Sophia was great at marketing, and she’d make an excellent lawyer with her killer instincts, but an actress she was not.
Henry loosened his tie, his grin forced as he got in his car. He’d barely started it before he was off, his tires squealing on the asphalt as he tore out of the parking lot.
“I guess I have to look into him now.” I shook my head, the smile falling from my face. “That’s definitely not how an innocent person reacts, even toward me.”
“Ooh, so you are going to murder someone.” She rubbed her hands together in glee. Sophia might not want to get blood on her own hands, but she wasn’t scared of hearing all the details.
I narrowed my eyes on her, and she zipped her lips. I really wished she wouldn’t announce to everyone from City Hall who ventured out to their cars that the rumors weren’t exactly untrue. I’d rather catch them off guard than give them time to get away.
“It’s fight night tonight.” I waggled my eyebrows and she giggled, but it sounded a bit forced.
I knew she didn’t want to be reminded of Sebastian and Zane and whatever weird relationship they had.
They hadn’t talked in the last year as far as I knew, but that might soon.
“You know they’re opening up an underground club in New York, right? ”
“I remember.” She gave me a tight smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You’ve told me a few times already since Merrick became his business partner. Besides, I sincerely doubt I’ll ever see them. We don’t exactly run in the same circles.”
“Fair enough.” Since Sophia’s father was a senator, she had to stay out of the spotlight, and being caught going to illegal fight clubs was probably not the publicity that he needed.
“Fine, go off and find those men of yours,” she said, and I couldn’t help but feel like she was rushing me off the phone to avoid talking about the two men who could never hide their feelings for my friend.
I even thought they were moving to New York because of her, but when I voiced that to Sophia, she called me delusional.
So I was staying out of it. “Call me tomorrow so we can set up a study date.”
“I will.” I blew her a kiss, my chest warming when she returned the gesture, some of her levity coming back at the subject change.
We said our goodbyes, and I turned on my music before driving out of the parking lot toward the town’s main street.
I pulled up to the curb right outside Kellan’s tattoo shop, taking a moment to admire the repaired glass panes filling the shop with light. I squinted as Kellan ambled to the chair, his tattoo gun in his hand as he started a design on the last person I expected to see inside a tattoo parlor.