Epilogue
SIX MONTHS LATER
I had faced guns, knives, rival clubs, and men who wanted me dead.
None of them had been as demanding as a five-year-old hosting a tea party.
“You’re holding the cup wrong,” Maddie informed me.
The pink plastic cup disappeared inside my hand. “There a right way?”
“You have to put your little finger up.”
“Ain’t doin’ that.”
“It’s fancy.”
“I ain’t fancy, little bit.”
She sighed with the patience of someone dealing with a particularly slow child, then reached across the small table and forced my smallest finger away from the cup.
“There.”
I looked at Diesel, who sat opposite me wearing a purple plastic crown and three glittery necklaces.
He shrugged. “Don’t fight it. Makes it worse.”
“You told her I’d come.”
“You told her I couldn’t make dinosaur pancakes. This is revenge.”
Maddie placed half a biscuit on the tiny plate in front of me. She still saved one every time Callie brought them home from the diner, although she had stopped pretending it was because she thought sharing would make me nicer.
Now she said they were mine because I was family.
The front door opened.
Callie walked in wearing her diner uniform, her hair pulled into a loose ponytail and exhaustion shadowing her face. She stopped when she saw the tea party taking place in the living room.
Her mouth curved.
“Nice crown, Diesel.”
“I’m royalty.”
“You’re a pain in my ass,” I said.
Callie’s gaze shifted to the plastic cup in my hand and the pink tiara Maddie had balanced across my head.
“This might be the best thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Take a picture and I’m breakin’ your phone.”
She pulled it from her pocket.
I stood.
Callie ran laughing, but I caught her before she reached the kitchen and wrapped one arm around her waist. She leaned into me automatically, her body fitting against mine as though it had always belonged there.
“Delete it, sweetheart.”
“Absolutely not.”
I kissed the side of her neck. “Last warning.”
“You don’t scare me.”
“Should.”
“You’re wearing a tiara.”
Maddie appeared beside us. “Mommy, Mr. Reaper is fancy now.”
Callie laughed harder.
I had moved into their house the week after Maddie’s kidnapping. At first, I brought one bag and claimed it was temporary. Then my clothes filled half the closet, my bike took over the garage, and Maddie began leaving drawings inside my boots so I would find them before club runs.
The broken window had been replaced. So had the back door, the porch light, and every lock in the house. Knox installed new cameras, Gunner checked them weekly, and nobody connected to the Black Thorns had come within half a mile of Callie or Maddie since Viper died.
Maddie’s father remained in jail awaiting sentencing. A no-contact order stopped him from reaching either of them, although Callie had stopped checking the road every time a car slowed outside.
She knew I was watching.
More importantly, she knew she did not have to watch alone.
My phone buzzed.
HAWK: CLUBHOUSE. NOW.
Callie read my expression. “Go. We’ll meet you there for dinner.”
I kissed her once, then crouched in front of Maddie. “Gotta go, little bit.”
“Club business?”
“Yeah.”
“Are there monsters?”
Callie went still.
Maddie had slept badly for weeks after the motel. She did not remember the gunshot, but she remembered Viper, the locked room, and the promise I made before coming for her.
The nightmares had finally begun to fade.
I adjusted the dinosaur necklace around her neck. “No monsters comin’ near this house.”
“Because they know your name?”
“Every last one.”
She hugged me before returning to the tea party.
Callie followed me to the door.
“You’re coming back?”
It wasn’t fear in her voice anymore. Just a reminder of the promise we had made.
I cupped the back of her neck and kissed her.
“Always.”
***
The clubhouse was quieter than usual when I arrived. Hawk, Chains, Gunner, Knox, Axel, and Diesel were gathered around the back table. Diesel still had glitter on his neck.
Hawk pushed a photograph toward me.
Rafe Maddox stood outside a warehouse two counties over, shaking hands with a man none of us recognized.
“He disappeared after Viper died,” Hawk said. “Now he’s buying storage properties and moving money through shell companies.”
“Buildin’ another route,” Gunner said.
“Or preparing for something bigger,” Knox added.
Chains studied the photograph. “He’s been quiet too long.”
Hawk’s expression hardened. “Quiet men are planning men.”
Rafe was still out there.
The Black Thorns still wanted Iron Flames territory, and killing Viper had not ended the war gathering beyond our borders. It had only taught Rafe that coming after our families carried a price.
“Whatever Rafe’s plannin’,” I said, “we end it before it reaches our people.”
Chains nodded. “That’s the job.”
Diesel’s phone rang before anyone could answer. He glanced at the screen and swore.
“Tow job. Some rich asshole’s classic car died outside a wedding venue.”
Axel grinned. “Better keep the crown on. Might meet a princess.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
Diesel grabbed his keys and headed toward the garage.
The rest of us returned to the map.
***
An hour later, I rode home with the knowledge that another fight was coming and a small velvet box heavy inside my pocket.
Callie was waiting on the porch.
Maddie had fallen asleep on the couch, surrounded by crayons, glitter, and three pictures of our family. In every one, I was much larger than the house and standing between them and a badly drawn monster.
Callie wrapped her arms around my neck. “Everything okay?”
“For tonight.”
“I’ll take tonight.”
I looked through the window at Maddie, then back at the woman who had taught me being dangerous did not make me unworthy of anything softer.
“Ain’t good at speeches, sweetheart.”
Callie’s gaze dropped as I took out the box.
“Oh my God.”
“You and Maddie are mine. Been mine since she handed me that first damn biscuit, even if I was too stupid to know it.” I opened the box. “I’m yours too. Every ugly part, every scar, everythin’ I got.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Marry me.”
“Yes.”
I slid the ring onto her finger and kissed her before she finished saying it.
Behind us, the front door opened.
Maddie stood there rubbing her eyes. “Did Mommy say yes?”
Callie laughed through her tears. “You knew?”
“She picked the ring,” I said.
“It needed more glitter,” Maddie explained.
Callie pulled her into our arms.
The whole town could keep fearing Reaper.
My girls knew Chris.
And Chris was finally home.