EPILOGUE
Nora
Two years. Sometimes I still paused to let that number settle in my mind, because it felt impossible that so much time had passed. I stood on the balcony outside our bedroom as the morning sunlight spread across the O’Connor estate.
Birds moved between the trees, the staff began another ordinary day, and a gentle breeze carried the scent of fresh flowers through the air.
Ordinary. There’d been a time when I believed I would never have an ordinary life. Now I woke up beside my husband every day, and it was the most normal thing in the world.
The door opened behind me, and Liam stepped onto the balcony. He wrapped an arm around my waist without saying a word, resting his chin lightly against my head. It was such a simple gesture, yet it reminded me how much had changed.
Two years ago, I was afraid of almost everyone who came close to me. Now, the place where I felt safest was in a man’s arms.
Liam was still the man the world knew. He remained disciplined, protective, and dangerous whenever the family needed him to be.
He still spent long hours with Sean, Ronan, Diggs, Paddy, and Michael whenever business demanded his attention, and nobody outside the family ever underestimated what he was capable of. But the man I saw every day was different.
He smiled and laughed more easily. He’d learned that strength wasn’t only measured by the battles he fought, but also by the peace he protected. Watching him walk back inside to prepare for another day, I realized I’d changed just as much.
My relationship with my mother had grown slowly over the past two years. There were still difficult conversations and moments when old memories hurt, but we no longer allowed those memories to decide our future.
Maeve had become the sister I never knew I’d needed. Her warmth filled every room she entered, and she loved without asking for anything in return. Sofia remained one of my closest friends, bringing laughter into my life whenever I started taking things too seriously.
Together, they’d shown me that family wasn’t always the one you were born into. Sometimes it was the people who chose you.
I looked across the estate one last time before following Liam back inside.
The day slipped by the way good days often do, without urgency or anyone looking over our shoulders.
That evening, after everyone had drifted off to their own corners of the estate, Liam found me curled up on the sitting room sofa with a book resting on my lap.
“You look far too comfortable. Oh, I know why. It’s been a while since you’ve won a game of poker.”
I laughed. “A while? Liam, I’ve beaten you the last four times.”
He walked over and sat beside me, shaking his head. “I think it’s time for a rematch.”
I closed the book and placed it on the table. “I’ll play you for ten million.”
“I have a better idea. If I win...” He leaned a little closer, his eyes never leaving mine. “I get to spend the rest of the evening making up for all the times you’ve beaten me.”
I couldn’t help smiling. “And if I win?”
“You get your ten million.”
I laughed so hard I had to wipe a tear from the corner of my eye. “You know,” I said, “you don’t need a game of poker for that.”
His eyebrows lifted. I smiled at the man who’d once rescued me, then become my home.
“Why don’t we skip the cards and go upstairs right now?”
The grin that spread across his face was the same one that had stolen my heart all those years ago. He stood and offered me his hand, and I gladly took it.
Together, we left the room laughing, proving once again that the greatest prize either of us had ever won wasn’t a game of poker.
It was each other.
*****
THE END.