Epilogue
“While we might be named after certain characters from well-known myths.
It doesn’t mean we need to live their lives.
We have the power to change our destiny.
And that’s the true beauty of being a mortal.”
Orion
Eight years later
Orion
“Hurry up, Leon!” a cheery young voice shouts, her bare feet soundless on the emerald-green grass as she races through the garden, the wind blowing her golden locks in different directions, her blue eyes sparking with mischief.
“We need to catch the full moon before it’s gone.
” She shakes the camera in her hand. “It’s vitally important. ”
“Have mercy on my knees and heart, little one.” Leon huffs and puffs behind her, wiping the sweat dripping down his forehead with a white napkin. “There will be another full moon in a month.”
“Tonight is magical, Leon. It’s the night before my birthday. Marta says I was born on a full moon, so we’d have to wait a whole year,” my six-year-old daughter argues back, halting her movements and placing her hands on her hips as her yellow summer dress skirts over her legs. “I’d be very upset.”
Leon takes a short, deep breath while wiping away beads of sweat. “If you say so, princess.” He ruffles her hair, making her laugh. “You’re a future photographer after all.”
My daughter has been obsessed with her new camera for the past couple of weeks, dragging it everywhere with her and snapping endless pictures that she later developed and put in various photo albums. Her favorite ones got framed, and she hangs them all over the house or gifts them to the staff.
Which means Actaeon is getting daily phone calls and praises since he’s the one who gifted it to her.
I’m just glad it wasn’t a limited-edition gun because when he gave her a huge black leather horizontal case, my heart plummeted, and I was ready to punch him.
She wiggles her finger at Leon. “No. I’m Daddy’s heir, which means I’ll own his corporation one day. This will be a hobby.” She taps on her lips. “It teaches me to be observant. Uncle A says it’s very important to pay attention to details, especially when you’re a leader.”
“All this work for a hobby?” He wipes his sweat off once again and fans his face. “Child, you have to be more kind to your elders.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’re still hot, or so Matilda says. Not sure what it means, though. What does it mean?” She tilts her head, studying him, and his cheeks grow red.
I cringe on the inside from the mental image these words create. They practically raised me, I don’t want to know that they find each other “hot” or how they still sneak into each other’s rooms at night as if anyone gives a shit about their relationship.
But then, according to Matilda, rules are rules, so we all have to pretend they don’t love each other. The whole thing is hilarious and disturbing at the same time.
“Well—well—”
The old man struggles to find the words to cover his ass, but that’s when my daughter notices me. Her whole face brightens up, and she puts the camera on the grass, opening her arms wide and sprinting toward me. Her voice echoes through the space. “Daddy!”
I have a second to catch her before she smacks into my knees, and I lift her high up, her laughter warming me from the inside out.
I bring her to my chest, and she wraps her arms around my neck, hugging me tight.
“I’ve missed you, Daddy,” she whispers into my ear as I return the embrace, rocking her side to side in my arms. She leans back, cupping my cheeks and patting them gently.
Her touch is always very gentle, as if she’s afraid to hurt the scars on my face that healed a long time ago.
My little princess still tries to spare me any discomfort. “How was the work trip?”
“Uneventful.”
Time away from my family always is.
“I was afraid you’d miss my birthday, but Mommy said you would never.” She gives me a toothless smile. “I’m so happy you’re back.”
“I’d never miss your birthday, princess.”
I lost my heart twice in this life.
The first time was when I met my beautiful wife, who turned my world on its head, changing everything I knew about myself and giving our love a chance by accepting every dark part of me.
My darkness didn’t scare her off; she found protection in it.
The second time was when we went for the ultrasound, and I heard Rose’s heartbeat. All my protective and possessive instincts pushed to the surface as complete hopelessness filled me, because I could never imagine anyone hurting my baby.
And I vowed to give her everything bright this world has to offer so she would never discover how hideous it can be.
At least not yet.
“Did you go with Uncle Eros?” Rose’s voice brings me back to the present, and there is a glint of mischief in her blue eyes.
Destiny truly played a trick on me when they made her my wife’s spitting image, sans her hair.
How could I ever refuse her anything or be stern with her?
Not that I’d have it any other way. “Mommy said he’s designing a new building.
” She sighs dreamily at this. “Someday I’ll do cool stuff like him.
” She pats my cheeks again. “Don’t worry.
I’ll keep an eye on your empire as well, Daddy. ”
I hold back the laughter because my daughter finds my work boring among all the other businesses I partake in, even though she wants to take the reins someday.
We can thank Actaeon for that, as he often casually mentions that her grandfather would have been proud to know his only granddaughter followed in his footsteps, despite the legacy being male-dominated, and became the greatest leader this company would ever have.
In truth, we both know the piece of shit is turning in his grave, and we toast to that fact every single time we see each other.
She won’t be forced to lead; my princess can do whatever the fuck she wishes, and I will support her every step of the way.
“You sure will, princess. Uncle Eros will come to wish you a happy birthday tomorrow.”
“What about Uncle A?” She furrows her brow, and her hold on my cheeks tightens. “Will he come? He promised!”
Right.
He’s always been her favorite, as he lets her get away with everything.
He also makes sure to fly to Boston at least once a week and spend time with her, keeping their uncle-niece connection strong.
My little brother is now a powerful leader in his own right. A fact that is still a sore subject between us.
“Uncle A always keeps his promises, right?” I ask her, and she nods. “I’m sure he’ll be there.”
Even if he is…well…
Complicated would be an understatement, but he thrives in mayhem and gore, enjoying it to the fullest.
At the rate he’s going, I won’t be surprised to learn he forgot about humanity altogether and succumbed to all his dark cravings. He’s already treading on dangerous territory with Lachlan, and serving as a buffer between them and Actaeon has been a pain in the ass for Rafael and me.
Despite all that, he won’t break his promise to Rose.
Actaeon has become many things over the years, and we don’t agree on most of the shit he does. Despite this, he’s my brother, born and raised by me. I never forget this fact, and as such, we are off-limits to his enemies because they know if they touch us, he’ll lose his head.
And we’ve already seen what happens when Actaeon loses his head, and let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.
I prefer to permanently wipe these particular memories from my mind. For a moment in time, I wondered if I would be able to save him from destruction.
He’ll never turn his back on his family, and if he gives his word, he’ll keep it no matter what.
“Mommy!” Rose shouts and wiggles in my arms. I put her back on the ground. She starts sprinting toward my wife, who’s heading in our direction, holding a plate of cookies with her red hair swaying lightly in the summer breeze.
The emerald-green long dress she wears flows past her knees, showcasing her delicate body in all its curvy glory. My hands are itching to touch her. I want to bite on her flesh and leave my marks all over her again, reminding her she belongs to only me.
My possessive tendencies grew over the years, and my wife seems to love it, which is all that matters to me.
Can anyone blame me?
I married the most beautiful woman in the world, and by some kind of miracle, she loves me.
She’s truly a gift from the gods for all the horrible things I had to go through, and I don’t even care about my scars anymore because having them led me to her.
Whenever she touches them, she heals the wounds she didn’t cause, bringing peace to my torn and anguished soul.
“Hey, darling.” Rose hugs her knees and giggles when my wife tugs at her ponytails. “Matilda made you some cookies to enjoy your moonlight photo shoot.”
“It’s very important, Mommy. I’ll hang the picture in my room.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Rose snatches the plate from her mother and, blowing her a kiss, runs back to Leon, who has finally caught his breath. They resume their walk toward the alcove near the greenhouse. That’s where we installed her telescope.
Lavender’s gift for Rose’s fifth birthday, when my girl was obsessed with everything space-related and dreamed about becoming an astronaut.
Once they are out of my sight, I focus on my wife. She winks at me. “Should I jump into your arms too?”
Opening them wide, I say, “Come here, baby.”
Lifting her skirt, she runs to me, and I catch her, her legs wrapping around me and her hands gripping my shoulders. “Hi,” she whispers, her fingers tracing over my scars. Her love-filled eyes still hold the power to bring me to my knees. “You’re home.”
My arms flex around her, fingers digging into her thighs, and her breath hitches. “Home is where you are, so yes.” I capture her mouth in a heated kiss, entwining our tongues in a familiar dance until she pulls back, gasping for breath. “Did you finish your book?”
Diana’s father went to prison for several crimes, including questionable business deals that led to their initial bankruptcy.
His case was the hottest gossip in town, and to this day, everyone wants to know what happened.
Since my wife had no sentimental value to any Jones property, aside from her grandmother’s house, I didn’t bother saving their family legacy, and as a result, it was all auctioned off to pay the debts her brother had acquired.
Grant got discharged from the hospital a few months after he was admitted and ended up living on the streets for a year until his maternal aunt finally located him.
Last we heard, he got his life together after starting therapy and discovering his love for religion.
He teaches physics at the night school and volunteers at a local animal shelter.
He never visits Jones in prison and refuses to give any interviews, although many journalists have tried in hopes of learning something new about our families.
He reached out to us several times to atone for his sins, and all his attempts failed because none of us were interested in hearing what he had to say.
I don’t give second chances to those who hurt my wife in any way. He should be thankful he’s still breathing.
During this turbulent period, my wife discovered her talent for writing thrillers.
She’d spend her days in her library among the books she loves, interacting with everyone around her, and in the evenings, she’d write her novel, finding joy in her newfound profession.
She chose to write under a pen name to preserve our privacy, and she’s doing all right.
While I want to give her all the opportunities, she forbade me from interfering with her career in any way.
Her grandmother, despite doctors predicting that her condition would worsen over the years, continues to do well.
We rarely visit because she doesn’t recognize Diana, and it causes her too much stress to remember.
Her health is relatively good, though, and she shares all kinds of interesting stories from her youth with the nurses and other patients when we go to see her.
And the press, they still like to speculate about our marriage from time to time, with all the family drama involved, but they mostly lost interest in us once I officially won the lawsuit and got my mother’s land.
When our daughter was born, we wrote in the will that she would inherit the land once she turned thirty under one condition.
She could never transfer the deed to her husband or anyone but her children once they turn twenty-one.
Besides, I think my mom would have loved to know that her granddaughter had gotten the land that was so precious to her.
We fell into a glorious routine over the years, mostly interacting with Psyche, Eros, my brother, and my cousins and their spouses while seeking happiness in our little world.
And in this new world of ours, there is no place for ghosts or monsters from the past.
“Yes. I finally figured out the plot twist. The heroine killed her cheating husband in a very gruesome way.” She drops her voice a few octaves. “Your wife has a very vivid imagination.”
“Is that so?” She nods, gasping when I scrape my teeth over the sensitive skin of her neck.
“Tonight, I’m all ears, baby.” Spinning around, I start moving toward the house and hike her higher until she is pressed so tight against me that not an inch of space is left between us.
That’s how I like us best. “I do love your wicked mind.”
She laughs, threading her fingers through my hair and rubbing her cheek against my scarred one. “It’s your mind that’s wicked. You have corrupted me.”
“It’s only fair. You’ve captured my heart.”
Her gaze softens. “I love you, Orion.”
“I love you too, Diana.”
Loving my wife turned out to be the easiest and hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Once upon a time, a mortal hunter fell in love with a beautiful yet forbidden goddess.
Finally, in this lifetime, they got their happy ending.
And I would hold on to it till my last breath.
The End