Epilogue
Davian
Davian Reed’s Guide to Tricking Your Hostage-Taker into Spending the Rest of Her Life with You, Tip #1: Include her furry bodyguard in the proposal.
Neither of my two conditions for adopting Bear lasted long.
In the eight months since Sadie moved in, Bear slept in our bed more often than not.
And we’d adopted six more dogs.
Six.
At first, Sadie claimed we were only fostering a few—including Bear’s best bud, Mr. Woofkins—while Happy Tails Haven was getting much-needed renovations. Then construction finished, but all the dogs seemed happy to stay in their new home.
When I brought up our agreement, Sadie was quick to point out that, “You said you didn’t want a zoo , and this isn’t a zoo. A zoo is defined as ‘an establishment which maintains a collection of wild animals, typically in a park or gardens, for study, conservation, or display to the public.’ This is more of a dog sanctuary.”
She’d outsmarted me on a technicality.
I shouldn’t have found it as hot as I did.
And the kicker was my donation had funded the renovations, so I only had myself to blame.
The dogs were just the tip of the iceberg with how much my life had changed since Sadie burst into it. I’d found a partner who not only didn’t shy away from my life, but seamlessly fit into it while adding her own personal touch. Music became a constant presence in Tony’s kitchen with Sadie in there, and my chef smiled more in the last eight months than I’d seen him smile in years. Walter’s children were thriving in little pots around the house—thanks to the gardeners keeping Sadie away from them. Baked goods now accompanied every meeting.
Vince had gained ten pounds since she moved in.
It had its challenges, too. Sadie had a habit of accidentally getting involved with our jobs, walking in on deals in my office, and having a sixth sense for whenever I put someone in the shed—the inside of which had been wallpapered pink without my knowledge.
And the secret bookcase armory in my office had to be expanded to keep my shoes out of Bear’s reach.
Sadie’s self-defense training with Vince had gone so well that Sadie persuaded more of my men to teach her their specialties, too. Working with Tony in the kitchen and Hollis at the front gate were her favorite spots—if only because both allowed her to hand out baked goods. She’d also convinced Malcolm to give her tips on getaway driving, then Enzo let her shadow him during a hacking job, but we drew the line at weapons training.
As cute as Sadie would look with a pink gun, the world just wasn’t ready for it. Neither was my blood pressure.
Her place by my side had been cemented after news of Zain and Murdock’s foiled abductions spread through the underground—even earning Sadie a reputation as a skilled fighter.
I didn’t bother correcting that rumor. It worked in our favor.
And despite my plans, I’d let Zain live, after all. Mostly because Sadie had made it her personal mission to “mend fences” with the Ali brothers, and she would’ve noticed if one suddenly ended up six feet under. Her plans involved having them volunteer at the shelter, exploring non-criminal hobbies, and finding a math tutor for Fessy. It took one look from me for the boys to play along with her wishes, but I drew the line at Sadie inviting them both to Thanksgiving.
That didn’t stop her from sending them a dozen pumpkin pies for the holiday, then cookie boxes on Christmas—with notes saying the treats were from both of us.
It was a confusing time for my reputation.
Zain and Murdock’s initial fates served as a warning of what would happen if anyone tried to touch Sadie, which gave us peace for a few months. But after one of my deals went sideways, a north-side gangbanger cooked up a plan to take Sadie while she was walking Bear.
The hellhound proved a worthy guard dog, and they escaped unscathed long enough to hide and call me. I made sure that was the last attack anyone attempted.
Every day was a surprise with Sadie. From dance parties in the kitchen to her becoming my confidant for work, I was a lucky bastard to call her mine.
Last month, she hosted a wedding between Bear and a Samoyed named Cookie in our backyard. I’d never participated in anything more ridiculous in my life—and that was coming from someone who’d attended a funeral for a plant —but it’d been worth it to see how happy it made her.
All the dogs from the shelter had attended. Sadie had baked specialty treats for the occasion. There’d been bouquets of white flowers to match Cookie’s coat and a veil Gladys had handmade for her.
Sadie had somehow talked Vince into being both the ring bearer and the flower girl.
Framed pictures of the whole debacle hung proudly in our living room—taken by a professional photographer Sadie had hired.
It all felt like a fever dream.
But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me all the more eager to make Sadie my wife.
My plan was foolproof. I’d spent hours in the kitchen yesterday making my masterpiece—and almost as much time working with Bear on his role. It was a simple retrieval he could do in his sleep, but the hellhound had let me know early on that Sadie was his owner and he’d only listen to my commands if he wanted to.
He rarely wanted to.
Sadie only had a few weeks left of culinary school, and I’d recruited Tony to drop a few hints to her about the early summer weather being perfect for a picnic. So, when he packed a basket with a full spread and sent us to the back grounds one afternoon, she was none the wiser.
I set up a blanket near the tree line, where Sadie lay out to sunbathe in one of her intriguingly short pink dresses. She talked me into hand-feeding her grapes and rambled excitedly about a new dog treat recipe she’d been experimenting with, while I sat next to her—feeling an inkling of nerves for the first time since I was thirteen and my pop had let me join him on a job.
That was unexpected, and I checked on my accomplice to make sure he was ready.
Bear took up a whole corner of our blanket, spread out and soaking up the sun like he didn’t have a care in the world. Sadie even rubbed the pampered beast’s back with her foot.
I snapped my fingers—the signal Bear and I had settled on for his part of my plan.
But instead of jumping up and trotting into the forest like the dozens of times we’d practiced, Bear only shifted his head on the blanket to stare at me.
I snapped my fingers again and nodded toward the trees.
His tail thumped against the ground in answer while he continued to stare, and I bit back a groan.
“Happy Tails Haven is hosting a pet talent show this summer during one of our adoption events,” Sadie announced, pulling me out of my staring contest with Bear. “Do you think Bear should enter?”
“What would he do?” I asked dryly, glaring at the beast in question. “Ignore orders? Or show how fast he can fill my shoe with slobber?”
“That was one time.” Sadie winced and sat up. “But I’ve been teaching him some new stuff! Watch this. Bear, roll over .”
Bear’s ear twitched in answer, but no rolling happened.
Sadie frowned. “He did it yesterday. Maybe he’s tired.”
“Or practicing selective hearing,” I grumbled, snapping my fingers again. “Fetch the basket, Bear.”
By some miracle, the dog finally listened and got to his feet. Just like we’d practiced, he slunk away into the trees.
“Basket?” Sadie echoed as he disappeared. “What basket? Where’s he going?”
Bear reappeared at the tree line, carrying a little pink basket with an even smaller box in it. He trotted over to me and held it out in offering.
“Good boy.” I took it and rubbed his furry head. “Now, get lost.”
He just stared back at me expectantly, his tongue out and tail wagging.
“Go on,” I pushed. “Go play with your wife, mutt.”
He didn’t budge.
Rolling my eyes, I slid off one of my loafers and flung it across the yard. Bear took off after it like a bullet, leaving me and Sadie alone for phase two of my plan.
Sadie laughed as Bear ran off, and I handed the basket to her.
“What’s this all about?” She accepted it with a small smile and took a moment to admire the little basket.
I leaned back on my hands. “It’s what’s next on the very long list of things I want to do to you.”
Her face flushed an attractive shade of red, and she carefully opened the box. Her eyes lit up at what was inside—a perfect chocolate cupcake I’d made myself after hours of failed batches. And in the center of a dollop of meringue on top was a ring.
Sadie gasped when she spotted the diamond, and her wide eyes shot up to me. “Dav?”
That damn rubber band snapped in my chest.
“I think it’s time we make this hostage arrangement permanent.” I nodded toward the ring. “Put it on your finger.”
She laughed softly at the demand, staring at the ring again and swallowing before looking at me with a sparkle in her eyes. “Are you trying to ask me something?”
Part of me missed the days when everyone followed my demands without question, but Sadie had never been like that. It was one of the first things that drew me to her.
I got up on one knee, and it was more than worth it when her eyes crinkled at the corners. I gently took the baked treat from her, fished out the ring, and set the cupcake aside for now.
“Sadie, I’ve been yours since the moment you pointed that gun at me. But I want more—like my ring on your finger. I want you to take my name and make this partnership official. I want to spend every day trying to make you happier than you were the day before. And that’s just the start of my new list.” Unable to resist, I lifted her left hand and slid the ring onto her finger, impatient to get it on her. Small globs of meringue covered her knuckles, having hitched a ride on the ring, and I took care of them with a few open-mouthed kisses. Her hand trembled in my grip as I focused on her gorgeous grey eyes. “Now, will you make me the happiest hostage in the world and be my wife?”
Sadie let out a watery laugh, before biting her lip as she looked at the ring again. She nodded with tears in her eyes. “I can’t think of anything I’d want more than that.”
That was all the warning I had before she launched herself at me, and I barely caught her around the waist before she could knock me flat on my ass.
“You sure you wouldn’t rather adopt another dog?” I asked dryly, keeping her in my lap.
Sadie playfully smacked my arm before squeezing me even tighter. “Shush. You love them, too.”
I’d go to my grave before admitting something like that out loud.
She attacked my face with kisses before pulling back, wiping her nose and sniffling even as she smiled. Her eyes were drawn back to the cupcake sitting beside us.
“What’s this?” She nodded at the white marshmallow-like topping, before poking it with the tip of her finger.
“I made meringue,” I said, surprised she didn’t recognize it.
Sadie’s brows crept higher, and she took her eyes off the cupcake to stare at me. “You made meringue?”
She didn’t have to sound so shocked.
“It seemed important to you.” I watched her closely—studying the delicate way her throat worked as she swallowed—then shrugged. “You said all that stuff about how we couldn’t be meringue, but we can. We are.”
She blinked and looked at it again. More tears welled in her eyes.
“You made meringue,” she repeated softly, seemingly at a loss for words, before shaking her head. She wiped her nose, sniffling again. “I can’t believe… Wow .”
I pressed a kiss to her temple. “Tony tried to talk me out of it. He said meringue isn’t a traditional topping for cupcakes, but I told him we’re not a traditional couple.”
Sadie hugged me with a breathless laugh—one that sounded dangerously close to a sob. “It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect. This is the most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
“So far,” I murmured, squeezing her tight. I had plans for Sadie. Big, big plans.
She pulled back just far enough to look at her ring again, grinning at it. “It’s pink.”
I eyed her dress and hair. “Pink suits you.”
“I love it,” she whispered. Her grin widened before she snickered under her breath. “Sorry, mafia princesses, but he’s all mine .”
Phase three commenced after it fully sank in that she’d said yes.
Sadie had lain back on the blanket and was admiring her ring from different angles in the sunlight, but she’d kept her feet propped in my lap.
Unable to wait any longer, I pulled an envelope out of my inside jacket pocket and held it out to Sadie. “There’s one more thing.”
“ More? ” she echoed, sitting up. She eyed the envelope before hesitantly taking it. “What is it?”
“An engagement present.”
Her lips parted. “You got me a present? But I didn’t know you were doing this! I didn’t get you anything?—”
“Open the envelope, Sadie.”
She glared half-heartedly, before cautiously opening it and skimming the contents with a furrowed brow. “I don’t understand. It’s a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo.”
“It’s a deed,” I explained, fighting back a smirk. “For the property next to Bruno’s.”
Her head snapped up, mouth dropping open. “What?”
“You graduate next month, and you said your dream was to open a dog treat bakery.” I nodded at the paper. “I’m bankrolling it.”
She blinked back at me. “You— I— What? You remember that?”
It was something she’d told me the day we’d met, and I’d never forget it. “I remember everything from that day, Sadie. It’s seared into my memory.”
She swallowed hard. “Dav, this is… This is too much. And it wouldn’t be right! Bruno wants to use that space to expand?—”
I cut in before she could freak out. “I already talked to him ages ago. If you agree, he’d love to have you next door, and we can still tear the wall down. You’d both have your own entrances and sides to the space, but there’d be enough room in the middle for seating—and room outside for a dog-friendly patio.”
The health department was still my biggest hurdle with making Sadie’s dream a reality. They were insistent on no dogs outside service ones being allowed inside Bruno’s shop, and no amount of bribery had swayed them.
Yet .
Sadie was still having trouble forming words, so I continued. “It’s all yours. From design to product to operations, it can be whatever you want it to be. I’ll help however you need me to.”
A tear escaped down her cheek, and she hastily brushed it away.
“You bought me a dog treat bakery,” she whispered in awe, gaze darting between me and the papers. “I have the best boyfriend in the world.”
“Fiancé,” I corrected, unable to help myself.
A grin crept across her face. “I have the best fiancé in the world.”
She stared down at the deed again, slowly shaking her head. I watched in amusement as her gaze shifted to the pink rock on her finger, then flicked up to mine with a mischievous sparkle I’d come to recognize. “Take off your pants.”
Even after eight months, she still managed to surprise me. “My pants?”
“You heard me.” She carefully set the paper aside and reached underneath her dress. The next thing I knew, she was wiggling on the blanket and pulling her underwear down her legs. “I want to do dirty things to my fiancé .”
My blood ran south. I fought a smile and slid off my jacket before reaching for my belt. “Didn’t you make a promise not to feed the horny demon in public anymore?”
“Shut up.” Her half-hearted scowl was ruined by the blush racing up her face. A second later, she flung her underwear aside—where it landed in a bush. “I never should’ve told you about him.”
“ Him? ” My fingers froze on my belt buckle. “You didn’t mention your demon was a guy.”
Sadie’s face only turned redder. “Pants off. Now .”
My lips twitched as I worked my belt loose.
But apparently, I wasn’t moving fast enough for Sadie, because she pounced on me with enough momentum to pin me to the ground before taking over.
I didn’t mind at all.
The post-engagement bliss came to an abrupt end ten minutes after Sadie finished having her way with me on the picnic blanket. She lay on her stomach now, admiring her new ring after having a small photoshoot with it and the cupcake. When she finally took a bite of the baked treat, I watched closely—surprised when she froze in place.
The lack of reaction from a woman who usually hummed with pleasure whenever she so much as looked at a sweet put me on immediate alert. “What’s wrong?”
Sadie kept her expression carefully blank as she avoided eye contact. Her throat worked as she swallowed the bite. “Um… Did you bake this yourself?”
Her hesitation made me frown, but I didn’t want to admit Tony and Vince had tried to help. They didn’t deserve any credit. “Mostly. Why?”
A long pause passed before she poked a finger into the cakey part. “It’s nothing.”
Yeah, I didn’t believe her for a second. Especially when she didn’t go in for a second bite.
“Tell me.”
Sadie’s lips spasmed like she was trying not to laugh, even as she grimaced. “I love you. And I really love all the effort that went into baking this for me, Dav— truly —but, um, I think you mixed up sugar and salt in the recipe.”
My frown deepened, and I shifted closer. It couldn’t be that bad. It still looked like a cupcake, after all. “Let me try it.”
Sadie reluctantly handed over the treat, and I took a generous bite before immediately spitting it out on the grass.
“ What the hell is that? ” I scowled, feeling an actual flash of betrayal as I glared at the traitorous cupcake. It was poisoned. Or defective. “Why’d you swallow it? Sadie, spit it out.”
She collapsed on the blanket in a fit of giggles, while I threw the cupcake as far from us as I could into the forest.
“I’ll make you a better one.” I moved to get up, determined to redeem myself, but Sadie grabbed my arm and pulled me back down without interrupting her laughter.
She grinned and leaned up, placing a kiss on my cheek. “Or maybe you should stick to crime, and I’ll handle the cupcakes?”
I grimaced as the overwhelming taste of salt clung to my tongue, but it wasn’t a bad deal. “I can agree to those terms.”
Sadie eased the sting of discovering I lacked even the smallest amount of baking skills with another kiss, reminding me I’d gladly go to all the plant funerals and dog weddings in the world if it meant she’d be there with me.
Thank you so much for joining me for Sadie, Dav, and Bear’s story!