Epilogue
GIADA
Brazil – Two Months Later
The heat is different here. Heavy and alive.
It wraps around us like the city is breathing. Or maybe it’s just the man.
My man.
Renzo’s mouth is on mine, slow and sure, his hand warm at my waist, his thumb brushing the edge of the ring that’s taken up permanent residence on my finger. The diamond is obscene. Unapologetic. Impossible to miss.
He kisses me like he means it. Like there’s nowhere else he needs to be.
‘I love you,’ he murmurs against my lips.
‘I love you,’ I answer back, just as softly, just as certain.
I straighten his collar, smooth my palms down his chest, committing the moment to memory. This is our ritual now. My good-luck kiss. His steadying one.
Narciso walks past us and snorts. ‘Jesus,’ he mutters. ‘Get a room.’
Renzo doesn’t even look away from me. ‘Why do you keep hanging around if you hate it so much?’
Ciso doesn’t answer. His glare shifts instead – to Bibiana across the paddock. Something dark and complicated flickers there.
Then, abruptly, he turns back to me. ‘Any word from Jacinta?’
My chest tightens but I think about the reunion anyway.
About how Jacinta looked when she stepped through the café doors in Midtown, eyes filling before she even reached me.
We clung to each other, uncaring who saw, both of us crying too hard to speak at first. She laughed through tears, touching my face like she needed to convince herself I was real. She said she’d missed me every day. I believed her. I still do.
But there was something else there too. A tension she couldn’t quite hide. Jacinta looked healthy, vibrant even, but her smiles came a beat too late. Her answers about her work were vague.
‘A bit of consulting. Advising. Things that matter,’ she’d said, then changed the subject.
When I pressed, she kissed my cheek and told me not to worry. That she was safe. That she had things under control. We parted with promises to call, to visit, to never let the distance grow again.
Then the silence came back.
Abrupt and total.
I shake my head. ‘We saw her last month. Then nothing.’
The silence gnaws at all of us. I asked Renzo to reach out to Nightowl last week. He did. The reply came in the middle of the night.
Four words. No context. No explanation.
Nightowl
The bird flies backward.
I don’t know what it means. Neither does Renzo. That somehow makes it worse. Renzo presses a kiss to my temple. ‘We’ll find her.’
I nod. I believe him. I believe in him.
He rests his forehead against mine for a beat longer, then steps back, eyes dark, full of promises.
‘Wait for me,’ he says.
Always.
I watch him walk away towards the car, towards the noise and danger and speed, my hand drifting unconsciously to the ring.
This is my life now. I’m exactly where I’m meant to be.
And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
* * *
Renzo
The podium is loud. Bright. Familiar.
I’ve already clinched the championship. Everything from here on out is extra. Victory laps. Noise. Money.
Vittore’s gone quiet. Ivanov too. Palinski kept his word. The Salvatores are thriving.
It feels like the calm before a storm, sure – but I’m not stupid enough to turn down peace when it shows up dressed like this.
I scan the paddock and find her instantly.
Giada.
Sunlit and steady and so fucking breathtaking. Wearing my ring like it’s part of her ensemble now.
The next thing on my list isn’t another trophy.
It’s a baby.
Then a wedding she doesn’t see coming until it’s already happening.
I saw her face when Sofiya announced she was pregnant two weeks ago. Shock. Joy. Longing she tried to hide.
Rafa’s gone feral since and it’s not metaphorically. The man radiates violence and devotion in equal measure.
I get it.
The thought alone makes my grip tighten on the champagne bottle I just signed for a fan.
Giada catches me watching her. Really watching.
‘That look again,’ she calls out, amused.
I don’t bother lowering my voice. ‘You better be wet by the time I cross the finish line, ragazza. I’m not going easy on you.’
She blushes. Glorious and furious. ‘Do you ever?’ she fires back.
I grin. No shame. No mercy.
The anthem end and the noise swells as I grab my helmet. But my focus never leaves her as I walk backwards towards my race car, catching the kisses she blows me.
My heart swells big as a fucking blimp.
Because I know this isn’t the end.
This is just the part where everything finally belongs to us.
* * *