EPILOGUE
LILIANA
Six Months Later
Iopen the hospital door to find my old friend lying there, looking much better than the last time I saw him.
"Hey, Sport." He watches me as I cross the room toward him.
"I thought he killed you."
Carlos exhales a short laugh. "He should have. I still don't know what the hell came over me."
I settle into the chair beside his bed and take a seat. There are tired lines around his eyes, and a bruise fading at his temple.
"I'm sorry," I say. "About everything that happened to you."
"No." He shakes his head. "I'm the one who's sorry, Lily. I swear I never would have hurt you or your daughter. And your father promised he wouldn’t."
"Carlos," I say it gently but firmly. "I didn't come here for excuses. We both did some crazy, off-the-wall things, and now..." I glance around the quiet room. "Here we are."
"Here we are," he echoes.
A beat of silence passes between us. Comfortable enough, considering.
"Here." I reach into my bag and pull out the envelope, setting it on the blanket near his hand. "I have something for you."
He frowns, picking it up. "What's this?"
"A second chance. Same as the one you gave me." I lean back in the chair. "I can't help with everything, but I figured the rest you could figure out on your own."
He opens the envelope and goes still. Quiet for a long moment as he takes in the cash, then the check behind it.
"Lily." His voice comes out strange.
"Don't."
"This has to be at least…"
"Fifty thousand in cash," I confirm. "And a four-million-dollar check."
"Are you serious?"
"You held me down, Carlos. All those years at the bar, if I hadn't been there, I never would have met Raf.
I'd still be running on empty, too scared to want anything.
" I fold my hands in my lap. "My life has changed beyond anything I could have imagined, and you were a part of how I got here.
You deserve a break. You deserve to be happy.
You deserve to live somewhere in the light. "
He looks down at the envelope. Reads the note tucked inside.
Don't let life turn you into a villain. Go on that road trip.
His jaw works. “Hush money,” he says jokingly.
"Among other things."
He huffs out a breath that almost becomes a laugh. Then he looks up at me, his expression softening. More like the Carlos I used to know. "I actually, uh." He clears his throat. "I sort of met someone."
I blink. "Really."
"You remember Samantha? The bartender I fired because you thought you caught her stealing?"
"...I did catch her stealing."
"Yeah, we staged that whole thing. Turns out she was pregnant, and I didn't want everyone talking." The corner of his mouth lifts. "She's the one, Lily."
I stare at him for a second. Then I start laughing. “You know, that actually explains a lot.”
"I'm happy for you," I say when it settles. "I really am."
"Thanks." He looks down at his hands. Or what's left of one of them. He catches me noticing and shrugs it off before I can say anything. "Don't worry about it. It’s the reason I’m here today, actually. Apparently, I have replacements. I'll be better than ever with all the new parts."
"Bionic Carlos," I say.
"Exactly."
We smile at each other. Then the smiles fade into something quieter, and we both feel it at the same time, the goodbye neither of us quite knows how to say.
Too much has passed between us for things to ever go back to what they were.
And we both know it. I can see that he genuinely cares for me, more than my so-called father ever did, and that means something.
But caring about someone doesn't always mean a place in their future.
"Goodbye, Carlos."
"Goodbye, Sport." He pauses. "Oh, and Lily?"
I stop at the door.
"Thank you."
I nod once. And leave.
Rafaelle is waiting outside, leaning against the car with his arms crossed and his eyes on me the second I step through the doors.
"I thought you killed him," I say.
"I didn't." He pushes off the car. "I didn't want you carrying any regrets. You were in a bad place when everything happened. He seemed like..." He pauses, searching and failing to find the right words. "A decent piece of shit."
I press my lips together to keep from smiling. "A decent piece of shit?"
"Best I can do."
"Well." I reach up and straighten his collar, mostly just to have something to do with my hands. "Thank you. And thank you for letting me give him that money."
"It's your money." He catches my hand against his chest, holding it there. "You do what you want with it. Now that you're my wife, everything I have is yours anyway."
"Speaking of which." I tip my head back to look at him. "When are we converting the sex dungeon into a gym?"
His gaze flicks away from mine, but I catch the shift in his expression before he can hide it. He is definitely up to something. “I’ve actually been reconsidering. There are several things in there I think you'd find interesting if we—"
"Rafaelle."
"I'm serious, I've been researching."
"Rafaelle." I give him a look. "I am pregnant with your second child. I am not going anywhere near that room."
He stares at me.
Then his gaze drops to my stomach, and he smiles.
"The gym," he says finally.
"The gym," I confirm.
"Fine." He tugs me forward by the hand I'm still holding, steering me toward the passenger door. "But I'm keeping the restraints."
"Rafaelle!"
"Non-negotiable, Liliana."
I climb into the car, shaking my head, biting back the laugh that wants to escape. He rounds the hood and slides into the driver's seat, and for a moment we just sit there, engine not yet running, the city carrying on around us, ordinary and loud and completely indifferent to how full my heart is.
I spent months convincing myself that keeping Mila a secret was the only way for her to survive. I told myself I was protecting her. Protecting myself. I truly believed I was doing the right thing.
But it turns out, my life finally has meaning because of the one secret I was most afraid to reveal…
The Mafia King’s secret baby.
The end.