Epilogue
DELPHI
It didn’t matter what she did. It only mattered who she was. That was why we stood around Diane’s coffin that had been adorned with flowers, and said goodbye to a woman I hoped found peace in the afterlife, for Theo’s sake at least.
He grieved her loss like it was a secret he was ashamed to share, but I refused to let him suffer in silence.
When he hurt, we all hurt. When he realized there was no shame in it and that all the conflicting emotions he felt were normal, he gave in and allowed himself to feel it all.
It was hard. I wanted to take it all away, but some things I couldn’t fix.
Theo’s grief was quiet. It didn’t come in screaming nightmares or sobs of “why.” It came with a sad understanding that this life was too much for her and that she had been slowly dying since the first time she took drugs to escape.
After all, the only true escape from life is death.
Theo knew it was inevitable. He’d admitted that he came home every day with the knowledge he might find her dead.
It ate away at him, and I can’t help but wonder what would have happened to this kind and loving boy if the twisting of his sanity continued until the chains snapped altogether.
There’s a reason cops profile their perpetrators and their victims. There is almost always damage caused by some horrific trauma that they just couldn’t heal from.
I watch him like a hawk, looking for signs that he’s struggling beyond what is normal. But slowly and surely, he moved on. Diane died. But Theo didn’t, and he was determined to become more than the legacy she left behind.
I had to work through my guilt. I stood by what I did, but it was impossible not to react to Theo’s pain when I knew I was the cause. He never once treated me like he was angry at me, though. I think sometimes that made it worse.
One good thing to come from it all was that the cops ruled it a murder-suicide, deeming Diane’s overdose as intentional after assuming she had killed Josh and shot me.
If they’d dug deeper, they may have found some inconsistencies.
But like I hoped, they didn’t bother. The cops didn’t want to waste their time and resources on two people who didn’t fucking deserve it.
It has been six months since Theo returned to us, and we spent all that time petitioning for permanent custody.
Greer worked with us, helping with the groundwork, which became a huge conflict when it was revealed that Theo’s original caseworker had been getting kickbacks.
An investigation was opened, and it was discovered that he had turned a blind eye in many cases where he was being paid off to say nothing was amiss.
I despised him. He was in a place of power and a position of trust, and he abused the very system designed to keep these kids safe.
In two weeks, we will go before a judge. They would either approve of the adoption, or we’d leave the country in the dead of night, taking Theo with us. I didn’t trust anyone to keep him safe but me and the Raven Souls, who—through it all—had our backs.
Of course, they had it out with Blade. He was ordered to pay restitution to the club in ways I wasn’t privy to, but I know he didn’t give a single fuck. King isn’t technically part of the MC, so he ignored the lot of them, much to my amusement.
King had been coming to the clubhouse more often lately, partly because he found the whole thing entertaining.
I wasn’t sure what to make of him, to be honest. I’d met him once before, a long time ago, when he was the president of Kings of Carnage MC, a club his son’s now run.
He’d been the head honcho there, yet he’d played a role that never truly fit him.
I’m not sure he fits anywhere. I think that happens when you wear too many hats—you lose sight of yourself.
That said, I was not expecting to see him or Blade this morning as I stared at myself in the mirror, trying to stave off a panic attack.
There was a loud knock at the door, which opened before I could say anything.
When King walked in with Blade on his heels, it was enough of a surprise that it snapped me out of my panic.
“What are you guys doing here?” I croak out.
“Sunshine said you wanted a minute alone. I know you well enough to know you wanted a minute to have a mini-meltdown,” Blade says.
I roll my eyes, but I don’t deny it.
“I’m okay.”
“I know.”
King sits on one of the empty chairs that, moments ago, were filled with women dressed in matching bridesmaid dresses. He looks very dapper in a three-piece suit.
“They didn’t come,” I tell them both something they likely already know.
“No. They didn’t.”
I’d had no choice but to explain to my father and brother what had been going on in my life.
I told them everything from the incident with the grenade to falling in love with Kruger and my plans to adopt Theo.
To say they were less than impressed was an understatement.
My brother, who’d stayed by my side when I tried to take my own life and grieved for all I lost, couldn’t move past the fact that I’d done something so reckless, almost taking myself from him once more—which was fair.
His answer was to cut me out of his life, which was stupid if he didn’t want to lose me.
This would mean he lost me anyway. He also refused to accept Kruger in my life, because Ravens were toxic and they’d be my downfall.
Dramatic, but I couldn’t begrudge him his feelings—not after what I’d put him through.
My father went a step further and refused to accept Theo in my life.
He had deemed it God’s will every time I lost a baby, which of course was bullshit.
It was Lee’s will, not that I shared that part with him.
He looked at Theo as a way that I was cheating the system.
I told him I hoped his god kept him company in his old age because I’d be at home having dinner with my son and my husband.
I hadn’t spoken to them since, but I’d sent them an invite to the wedding, with the hope that we could mend the bridge between us.
But I guess there is no mending a bridge that’s been burned.
You just had to build a new one. It didn’t mean I wasn’t hurt and questioning if I was making a mistake.
“Well, their loss is our gain,” Blade states, walking over to me and taking my hand.
I stand up from the bench to face him. He takes me in, his eyes moving over my face before they move over my body and he takes in my dress.
“You look beautiful, Delphi. Kruger is going to lose his mind.”
“Thank you, though the dress was only possible because of King. Thank you for that, by the way. This was exactly what I envisioned.”
And it is. From a distance, the dress looks like an off-white wedding dress with a full tiered skirt that skims the ground, and a fitted corset covering my chest. One might make out something black in the fabric, but it isn’t until you get close that you realize it’s ink.
Black script scrolled into the fabric, making up words full of reverence, sentences of worship, and paragraphs filled with love.
A second glance, and you’d notice the layers are letters, painstakingly stitched together, transforming individual chapters into a story.
The story of Kruger and me. My favorite story ever.
“I’d ask you how, but over the years I’ve realized there is nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it.” Blade grins at King.
“Can’t cure cancer. I know I tried.” He says it so blasé, but I know he means it. Conan has been his friend for a long time. If he could take it from him, he would in a heartbeat.
“He’s getting better, so I’d say the cancer is just as wary of you as most mere mortals are.” Blade smirks, making King huff out a laugh.
Turning back to me, Blade lifts my hand and kisses the back of it, before bending his arm and slipping my hand into the crook of his elbow.
“I’m going to walk you down the aisle to the man you love.
The man who deserves you, who has earned you.
One who won’t judge you or try to change you.
One who will love you like you should have always been.
But if, by some twist of fate, he fucks up, me and King know a dozen ways to kill a man and get rid of his body so it will never be found. ”
He kisses my temple as I feel my lip quiver.
“Let’s get this show on the road before Kruger comes and hunts you down himself,” King orders, getting to his feet. But instead of walking to the door, he walks to me. He pulls out a jewelry box from his pocket and opens it, revealing a simple pearl bracelet.
I suck in a sharp breath. “Where did you get this?”
“I figured if your dad couldn’t be here, at least your mom could be.”
“You stole these from my dad’s place?”
“You mad?”
“No. Thank you, King.”
“You’re welcome. I figured it would cover your something borrowed. Here.” He pulls out a bedazzled dagger with a sapphire-encrusted handle. “Something blue.”
“Whoa.”
“You flashy bastard. Who gives a woman a fucking dagger on her wedding day?”
“One who is worried about her virtue?” King winks, making me laugh.
“I think that’s long gone.”
“You, my dear, are a paragon of virtue. That will never be gone, but there will always be someone who thinks they can take it from you. This will even the playing field.”
I look to Blade, who shrugs.
“Okay, um…I’m not sure how to carry it. I should have asked for pockets.”
“I’ve got you covered,” King says, pulling out what looks to be a small leather harness of some kind. “May I?”
I look at Blade again before I nod. Of course, I never expected the man to disappear under my dress or for his hand to wrap around my thigh while he straps the leather to me and sheaths the blade.
“I’m pretty sure in some cultures they consider this foreplay.” I gulp.