Epilogue
PRIEST
Thirteen Years Later
C hildren ran wildly over the busy courtyard of St. Jean d’Arc School.
My wife, sister, sister-in-law, and Davina had done a good job with the school, making it a very sought-after place. It wasn’t only for the children of the people involved in criminal organizations, but also for the kids of powerful and distinguished families of the political and royal world.
The children, including ours, would be well protected within the lines of this large property. I, along with many of our other associates, had ensured it. I doubted that even the president of the United States was under better protection than the children attending this school.
But as a parent, it still made me nervous not to have my children within my eyesight. My attention darted to my son who was sixteen now, his eyes darting eagerly around, probably already scheming what kind of shit he could get into with his cousins. While protective of his younger sister, much to Poppy’s dismay, Maddox certainly didn’t know how to keep himself out of trouble.
And that kept me up at night sometimes.
We had been traveling back and forth between two continents for years, but once our son and daughter started school, we intended to stay in the States full-time, close to them.
Yes, both of them were a force to be reckoned with, but so were Dante and I. Morally wrong and wicked people still found our vulnerabilities and used them against us. The truth of the matter was that I would sooner level this earth than allow my children to be touched by such evil.
It was my job to protect them.
Hence the reason for adding several additional surveillance services for security and staying close to the property.
“You have that look on your face,” my wife murmured softly, glancing at my profile. “The one that says I’m going to kill anyone who looks at my kids wrong.”
I shrugged. “Because I am.”
Poppy squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry, Papà. If you do kill them, I’ll help you get rid of the body.”
I glanced at my daughter, the mirror image of my wife. “Thank you, wildling.”
Ivy smacked my forearm gently. “You should scold her, Christian, not thank her.”
I shrugged. “She wouldn’t be the one doing the killing, angel, so we’re all good.”
Glancing at my daughter, I winked and she stifled a grin.
Was it scandalous that we spoke like that? Maybe, but while protective of our children, I didn’t shield them from the ways of the mafia life. I wanted them to be aware, eyes wide open when walking this world, especially the criminal one.
Especially my girl who would one day probably marry a man who was part of a criminal organization. If the fucker did her wrong, I wanted her to know exactly how to handle him. Yes, I’d be there in the blink of an eye to kill the fucker, but if I no longer walked this earth, she would also know how to do it herself.
Poppy spotted her cousins, Wynter and Basilio’s Brady bunch, and she shot me a pleading look. “Can I go say hi to Fallon?”
“Sure,” Ivy told her. “We’re right behind you.”
She barely finished the sentence and our daughter was dust in the wind.
Poppy didn’t shy away from a challenge and had a good head on her shoulders which made her get along with Basilio’s daughter, Fallon, despite their age difference. Both knew how to rule a room and the people in it. I daresay that my niece was a damn terror. I guess with her big brother, she had to be. Fallon never hesitated to put anyone in their place. After all, she’d had plenty of practice with her siblings.
“There’s Romeo,” Maddox exclaimed, and without waiting, he bolted to join his cousin.
My wife’s beautiful eyes found me and she smiled, sliding her small hand into mine. “Ah, alone at last.”
My lips twitched. “Not for long.”
She sombered for a moment. “Are you sure you’re okay with Maddox and Poppy attending St. Jean D’Arc?”
“Of course,” I assured her for the millionth time. “Where else would our children be better protected than in the school that my wife’s running?”
I meant it too. Yes, I implemented security measures that would make Rikers Island proud, but that had nothing to do with this school and everything with the ghosts that sometimes still haunted me. These measures would ensure my children would never experience them.
She rose on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to my lips. It was our favorite way to show affection, kissing, and I could never get enough.
“How did I get so lucky?” she murmured against my lips.
I smiled against her mouth. “I ravished you in a dark hallway, and I got addicted.”
“And the rest is history.”
“The rest is history.” I leaned in and nipped her bottom lip gently. “Which paved the way for our future.”
I didn’t deserve this happiness or future with a beautiful, loving family, but I’d keep it all anyhow. And I’d end anyone who tried to take it from me.
THE END