Epilogue
Arcane
The night sky looms ominously overhead, a foreboding shadow casting over the sinister mansion. But unlike all those years ago, I’ve escaped the clutches of the Grimaldis once and for all. Back then, I underestimated the evil of this world. Things have changed.
I have changed.
If someone had told me Kaiden would resurface after years of his supposed death, I’d never believe them. They declared he died in a train wreck shortly after midnight on my twenty-first birthday, the tenth of July. Yet, I should have known better. While they claimed he was dead, no body was ever discovered, despite the media’s relentless pursuit.
That’s the thing about a town where criminals reign—there’s corruption seeping into every crevice.
With our foster father gone and the Valentis soon to follow, chaos looms over Penumbra Crest. It’s no longer my burden. This town has failed me repeatedly, leaving me with little to offer except my allegiance to Viper as we navigate our uncertain future.
With each heartbeat, anticipation thrums through me, heightening my senses as I clench the handle tighter. The knife becomes a comfort as I inhale deeply, waiting for the long-awaited end after years of seeking vengeance.
Agonizing screams from the basement shatter through the silence of the manor, enveloping us all with their horrors. I glance at Viper, his stance relaxed with a concealed smirk betraying his sinister intentions, allowing me to soak in the unfolding scene before us.
It’s tragically beautiful in its own macabre way, with two men hanging from the ceiling, their muffled cries slicing through the air like haunting music. I never imagined finding pleasure in their agony, nor did I foresee stepping foot inside the García mansion. Now, it’s my stage for revenge.
Despite my attempts to fit into the Valenti organization, I never truly was one of them, was I?
A deep sigh of irritation follows as I suppress the feeling of self-pity, allowing a festering rage to take its hold, burning and brimming with the need for an outlet.
With my wounds throbbing and days of torture weighing on me, I press on, fueled by determination. Viper promised me a gift, and this is where he brought me after we left the Grimaldi mansion.
“They’re my gift to you, devil.”
Viper was right. As soon as I descended into the basement, the stench of urine, sweat, and blood assaulted me—fear and suffering. Now, with the knife in hand and Viper pressed taut against my back, I stand ready to exact the revenge that’s rightfully mine.
With icy resolve, I step forward, confronting Benjamin Valenti. Seeing him vulnerable is oddly refreshing, a testament to Viper’s effort to ensure his and his son’s capture, gifting me their lives.
Viper is shirtless behind me, his mouth peppering kisses along my neck, nibbling my lobe.
“Do whatever you wish with them,” he whispers, his words laden with sensuality.
As his hands skate lower, from my shoulder to my breasts, playing with the straps of my bra underneath the T-shirt, I attempt to resist the intoxicating touch, but in truth, I’m nervous to face the Valentis after what has transpired.
I let Viper’s hands glide off my body and strike Benjamin’s cheek, leaving a red mark. He stirs awake with swollen eyes—courtesy of Viper—and directs a sneer of disdain toward me. I tear away the fabric gagging both him and Alec, meant to silence them.
“Fuck you,” he spits out, snot running down his nose.
Rage surges through me at his audacity to insult me, when I hold the upper hand for once.
“That wasn’t very nice,” I remark with a smile, taunting him, just before plunging the blade into Benjamin’s thigh.
It sinks into his flesh with a sickening squelch, causing him to scream out in agony, louder this time with the gag gone. Oh , it feels euphoric to inflict pain, remembering all the times he looked down on me.
“You’re pathetic,” I sneer at him, noticing the sweat clinging to his forehead, his face dirty and swollen.
Viper’s touch traces over my figure from behind, sending shivers cascading across my fragile skin. I lean into his touch. His roughened fingertips explore my chest, grazing beneath the T-shirt he loaned me, then finding my nipples with purpose.
I can’t help but enjoy it, allowing it to become my anchor of safety while reveling in the comfort.
“They can look all they want, but as long as they so much as see you, they’re as good as dead.” Viper whispers the words like a teasing caress.
The two Valentis won’t live to see another day. Their fate was sealed the moment they laid eyes on me while Viper’s touch lingered on me.
“A-Arcane, please don’t do this. We’re f-family,” Alec stutters, eyes wide and face pale. He looks far from the composed man I’ve known him to be.
“Alec, shut the fuck up,” his father snaps, and I tsk at them both.
“Family?” I scoff. “Apparently, we never were family. You betrayed me. Why?”
The question isn’t one from a place of emotion or sorrow, it’s fueled purely by curiosity and the need to understand why it was so important to ruin our friendship.
A look of regret flashes across his eyes, yet I remain unaffected. He betrayed me. He knew about all the anxiety I felt growing up because I confided in him. We were supposed to be best friends, but he never once stood up for me when the men around us disregarded me for simply being a woman.
As Viper kneads my nipples, a gasp escapes my throat. His hand trails lower, the feeling intoxicating and unforgettable. It descends until his finger skims the edge of my underwear.
“You’re right. You never were a part of our family.” Benjamin Valenti spits on the floor before me. I turn to him, fists clenched, annoyance etched across my face. “It was so easy to trick you into believing you were one of us.”
I twist the knife still lodged in his thigh, relishing the agony flickering in his face, though he tries to conceal it. Even though I have demanded answers for their betrayal, I already know the truth from Peter Grimaldi. “It’s the Grimaldis, isn’t it?”
An amused glint replaces the agony, and Benjamin flashes a crooked grin. “Yes. And soon our allies will be here, ruining everything you think you’ve accomplished.”
He casts an unreadable expression toward Viper, and I follow his gaze, seeing Viper before me with a predatory gleam in his eyes. Satisfaction is palpable in the air when his touch slips underneath my panties. I can’t help but clench my thighs, all the while maintaining eye contact with Benjamin.
“I wonder how that’s supposed to happen.”
Viper kisses my neck, a low hum emanating from his throat. “It’s sure to be impossible when they’re all dead.”
My eyes shift from Benjamin to Alec, who appears nauseous, trying not to glance at where Viper’s hand rests.
“That’s right,” I reply with a cruel smirk.
Alec’s gaze drifts up to the ceiling, his head heavy with exhaustion in those tired, pale eyes.
“Now you know how it feels,” I tell him, voice tinged with anger. “When you decided power and territory were more important than found family. When you lied to me and pretended to be on my side, all the while planning for the Grimaldis to have me.”
He continues to stare at the ceiling, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he nervously swallows.
“Fucking look at me!” I scream, and he flinches, finally meeting my gaze. “You should know by now that I don’t take kindly to those who betray me. Peter Grimaldi is already dead, and now, so will you.”
“Please,” he stutters, but I see the truth in his eyes. The regret he previously showed isn’t because he regrets betraying me for power; it’s because he lost a friend for entirely selfish reasons.
“You’re going to pay for what you did to me,” I hiss, my voice dripping with venom.
The fa?ade of regret Alec wore while feigning innocence slips away, revealing a cold, calculated look. It’s unsettling to see him so out of character, but I realize now that this is the true him.
“You’re ruining everything,” he seethes. “All of our plans.” This time, he doesn’t avert his gaze.
I swallow, hiding my shock at his words, but Viper’s hand, as it trails inside my panties, tapping on my clit, brings me back to the present.
I wrench the knife from Benjamin’s thigh, driving it into Alec’s stomach instead, coating the blade in blood. He bites his tongue hard, staring at me with hatred so deep it nearly makes me recoil.
“Fucking bitch. A woman doesn’t belong in this world of criminality.”
I feel no remorse for my actions, tired of being underestimated by misogynistic men. Instead, I plunge the knife straight into Alec’s heart as his impending fate dawns upon him. A strangled gasp escapes him, his scream of rage and agony echoing off the walls. He’s not sorry for hurting me. He’s sorry for what he lost, the chances he wasted.
It’s painful to witness Alec’s body convulsing against the chains around his wrists, the blade gradually piercing his heart. I know there’s no other choice if I want to earn my freedom. He desperately tries to fight the inevitable, his eyes meeting mine with betrayal seeping into his bones—it feels as if he’s the one twisting the weapon in me. A lone tear trickles down my cheek.
“You shouldn’t have betrayed me. I’m sorry.” I look away like a coward as my once best friend takes his last breath, blood gushing from the wound and dripping onto the floor.
“Shh, don’t worry, devangel,” Viper whispers soothingly, his finger finding my folds and pushing inside me.
It’s erotically fucked up, with the heartache of my supposed best friend’s corpse in the background.
Meanwhile, Benjamin Valenti screams incomprehensibly. There’s not an ounce of sadness in his eyes, as if Alec’s life means nothing to him.
“I’ll never bend to you again.” I curse at Benjamin, tightening my grip around the blade, its edge tearing through his throat next.
There’s resistance, but it yields to the force, all the while knowing Viper is behind me and has my back. Benjamin’s blood spurts out, creating a gruesome scene.
Never once does Viper attempt to seize control and take over my act of revenge, allowing me to pursue it for myself. He has never treated me like I’m less than for being a woman. Instead, he empowers me because of it. He doesn’t try to change me or my ways, he simply exists in the background as a support for when I need him, and for that I’ll forever be grateful.
I will never bend for a man who doesn’t treat me with respect ever again.
The basement is a grim mess of death and decay, yet as Viper turns me around, ripping his shirt off my torso, it has never felt more like freedom.
“I told you, you’re as exquisite as a blood angel from hell.”
His smirk widens, revealing perfect teeth as he takes me in, and I do the same, noticing how bloody I’ve become. He leans closer, licking the blood that sprayed over my neck, sucking on my skin.
“Delicious,” he says.
“You’re psychotic.”
“Call it what you want, darling. It takes one to know one.”
He winks before his fingers move in and out of me, and I can’t help but gasp.
Tension crackles in the air between us, charged with electricity, as he leans in and captures my lips. Lust overwhelms me when he suddenly grabs the bloodied knife from my hand, using it to cut through the fabric of my panties, leaving me all naked and vulnerable amidst the chaos around us. Alec’s and Benjamin’s lifeless bodies still hang from the ceiling, and Viper cuts them down.
The next thing I know, he binds me to the ceiling, his hardness pressing against my backside. He growls, and my heart races as I struggle against the restraints. Fear and excitement mingle in me, making me breathless as desire pools between my legs, wetness trickling down my thighs.
“What are you doing?” I manage to breathe out.
He merely chuckles, the sound grating on my nerves, sending shivers down my spine.
I hear the unmistakable sound of his belt unbuckling, dragging his hand over my naked body, painting it like a canvas with the blood of those who betrayed me. Viper teases my entrance with his two piercings, his breaths uneven as I’m forced to stand on my tiptoes, blood pooling beneath me on the floor. My bare feet are drenched.
It’s a mixture of wrong and fucked up, but I can’t seem to find it in me to care. Fuck them all.
Without another second to spare, he thrusts into me, evoking a scream of pleasure as I clench around him.
“Hmm, I wonder what happens if I do this…” he muses, retrieving lube from his pocket—he planned this, no doubt. I watch as he slathers the knife’s handle with lubricant before lining it up against my ass.
“Breathe for me,” he whispers in my ear, letting me feel the handle of the knife. “Relax, my little sinful angel.”
I do, and he gently guides it inside my ass, causing a guttural moan as my eyes roll back in ecstasy. He holds the handle there, the knife’s blade cutting into his hand, adding slickness as he continues to drive into me. Harder and faster, until I’m screaming his name, surrounded by the gore around us. He fucks me in a brutal way that shows his emotions in the only way he can.
“Are you attempting to make me come with the thought of my brother’s cum dripping from my legs?” I tease him, and he growls, squeezing my neck with his free hand to assert dominance and intensify his thrusts.
“I’m not attempting to do anything. I’m fucking succeeding, and you’re loving every second of it, you dripping, gorgeous slut.”
My air is cut off as my inner walls clench around his pierced length, waves of pleasure shooting through me. My wrists throb from days of torment and captivity, yet I realize now that this is his way of helping me heal—replacing the bad memories with new, better ones.
He drives me to the point of climax until he finds release, too, grunting out my name like a prayer meant for the devil. I’m breathless as he withdraws, his cum trickling down my leg in a forbidden cascade. He easily unties my wrists, steadying my body to prevent me from slipping on the blood before ensuring our eyes lock.
It feels as if a vise squeezes my heart with the words lingering on the tip of my tongue, demanding to be released no matter the consequences. Without allowing him to say anything, I lay my heart bare.
“I-I think I love you,” I confess, the words tumbling out hesitantly.
He stiffens as if grappling with disbelief. It takes him a moment to respond. The short laugh escaping him is one I didn’t expect.
“No one can love me,” he states matter-of-factly, yet his eyes betray a vulnerability, a doubt about what love truly means. Neither of us is familiar with such emotions.
“I’ve fallen for you,” I insist, and he hesitates, searching my eyes for the truth in my words.
And I know that even if he doesn’t say it back, he feels it too, in his own twisted way.
“I can’t give you a fairy tale. I’m not the kind to shower you with chocolates and flowers,” he begins, and I’m about to protest, confusion knitting my brows. “I can’t say I love you because I don’t even know what love is.”
He pauses, letting his words sink in. My heart beats rapidly inside my rib cage, nerves eating me from the inside.
“But what I can give you is forever because I’m so goddamned obsessed with you,” he finishes with a loud sigh.
His gaze pierces mine, and a swell of emotions threatens to overwhelm me. It’s the closest thing to affection he can offer, and strangely, I’m okay with that. Because not everyone can feel love, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be loved.
“Then take me. Forever. I’m yours,” I declare, admitting it out loud, fully aware of the gravity of my words.
I never wanted to admit it as a young adult, but deep down, I guess I’ve always known there’s no escaping him. And truthfully, I don’t want to.
He smiles, a beautiful one that shatters the barriers around my heart, leaving me utterly exposed.
As he takes in the scene around us—two bodies strewn about, blood pooling, and the clock striking midnight—he leans in close to my ears.
“Happy birthday, Arcane,” he whispers, words laced with emotions I never imagined I’d hear from him.
——————
Five years ago, you saved me from the streets, offering me a friendship I never thought I’d find again. I will forever be grateful for that. You were there when I needed a shoulder to lean on, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. I forgive you for your betrayal, even though it stings. I know I won’t truly move on until I find forgiveness within myself.
May you rest in peace wherever you are, and find the comfort your soul always craved.
I’m sorry for how it all turned out. I miss you, Alec, but I hope you understand why I did what I did. After all, all I’ve ever done is fight to survive.
A xx
Ripping the paper into shreds, I release it to the wind, watching as it scatters over the cliff’s edge and into the water. With each piece carried away by a strong gust of wind, a weight lifts from my shoulders, and I bury the last pit of anxiety within.
A farewell to the best friend I lost.
I look up at the rumbling sky, enjoying the turbulent storm on its way to Penumbra Crest with the chaos looming closer. The entire town is corrupting, falling apart, but I don’t care.
Standing from my spot, I turn to face the man leaning against the sleek black R1 bike, his form covered in a leather jacket and gloves. His helmet rests on the seat, his hair tousled by the wind. There’s an enigmatic expression on his face that sets butterflies slicing my stomach.
Our relationship may not fit the standards, but it’s our reality. I meet his gaze, realizing he’s the only thing that truly matters now.
With a smile dancing on my lips, I feel the glistening droplets of rain fall from above. I make my way over to him, meeting his gaze with an intensity that crackles the air around us.
“No one will ever hurt you again,” he promises, as if reading my thoughts and the unspoken pain in my heart.
His lips crash against mine, a dangerous blend of poison and desire that leaves me craving more. As he hands me my helmet, I mount my own bike parked beside his.
“Thank you,” I tell him, acknowledging everything he’s done for me—even the fucked-up parts that shaped me into the strong woman I’ve become.
He nods, his jaw clenched tight. A mischievous expression plays on his face as he meets my gaze, his eyes smoldering with desire and promises to come.
“Now, drive before I catch you.”