Epilogue Knox #2
Another reason I stayed with Apple for so many years was guilt. She was vocal about her childhood trauma, and it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together.
Everyone remembers where they were when something terrible happens at the same time.
I had been in that Walmart the day she was taken and abused as a child. I was there. Logically I knew it wasn’t my fault, but I had noticed another little girl alone and kept an eye on her. Meanwhile Apple had been kidnapped from the same store.
At some point I decided that once Aron went to college, I would file for divorce. Enough was enough.
But that time never came.
Aron was arrogant, entitled, and refused to listen. Apple bought him a powerful car at sixteen. There were multiple run-ins with the police for speeding. His license was suspended. I put my foot down, took his keys, sent him to therapy, but nothing helped.
Apple gave him her own car keys.
At seventeen he caused a crash while speeding. Three other teenagers in the car died. His blood test showed sedatives and other prescription drugs. Some he had stolen from Apple, some from who knows where.
He was released while awaiting trial, facing a long sentence, and he spiraled even further.
A month before the trial, he took Apple’s car again and crashed into a tree. He was drunk.
This time, he didn’t survive.
I don’t know if it was an accident or intentional. I was heartbroken. Shattered.
The parents of the three teens sued us, blaming us for giving him access to a car despite his history.
A few months later I became violently ill.
Stomach pain, vomiting. The doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
Despite their efforts, I kept getting worse.
When I was on the verge of dying, Apple came to see me.
She told me how she had really gotten pregnant.
She had taken the condom from the trash and used a syringe to inseminate herself.
She admitted she knew I wanted a divorce, that I had spoken to a lawyer.
And because of the prenup, she decided to kill me with antifreeze. Like he did with Titan.
With my last breaths, I promised that if I ever had the chance, I would make her pay.
This life, everything was different.
When Ashley started working for me and I saw her almost every day, I kept my distance at first.
I watched her. In meetings. In passing. In the way she interacted with others. The way she carried herself. The way she spoke.
They were sisters after all, born from the same family. I couldn’t shake the suspicion that maybe Ashley hid the same rotten core Apple had. That she was simply better at masking it.
There was something else too. A feeling I couldn’t name. As if she had a hidden motive. I didn’t know what it was, but I wasn’t na?ve enough to ignore the possibility.
So I had my most trusted hacker dig into her devices. Her phone. Her laptop. Everything he could find about her online or off.
What he uncovered surprised me.
Ashley was wealthy. A millionaire in her own right. Nothing in her behavior hinted at it. She lived simply, worked hard, never flaunted anything. There was no arrogance, no need to show off.
She was nothing like Apple.
And she hated Apple just as much as I did.
Maybe even more.
There were folders upon folders of evidence on her devices.
Apple’s lies. Apple’s schemes. Apple’s crimes.
Ashley had collected it all, and it was clear she hadn’t obtained the information legally.
She had been pulling strings behind the scenes for years.
Every time Apple had a setback, every time something in her life went wrong, Ashley had been the one tugging the thread.
That was the moment I paused.
I had come into this life ready to destroy Apple myself, piece by piece. But when I saw what Ashley had been doing, how methodical she was, how deeply her hatred ran, I put my own revenge on hold. I wanted to see what she would do next. How far she would go. What her endgame was.
I was intrigued. So I sat back and watched.
At first, it was calculated. But somewhere along the way, it stopped being just that. I started noticing things I shouldn’t have cared about. The way she tucked her hair behind her ear when she was focused. The slight crease between her brows when she was thinking.
The more I watched her, the more something in me shifted. Slowly, quietly, without my permission. I started to feel something and feelings had never been part of my plans.
And then came the explosion in my office. The moment everything snapped. The moment we crossed the line and had sex for the first time.
After that, there was no going back.
When I discovered she was a virgin, my obsession only grew. And after the second time, I already knew I wanted to keep her.
Whatever motive she had for coming into my life, I didn’t care. If she wanted money, I had it. If she wanted influence, I could give her that too. None of it mattered.
Ashley was not Apple.
And I wanted Ashley. I wanted her with me.
So I bulldozed my way into her life. I didn’t give her time to doubt or pull away. I made sure she felt my presence everywhere.
After the kidnapping attempt, everything crystallized. Apple was dangerous in this timeline too. She always would be. I put security on Ashley immediately. I wasn’t losing her.
I had my hacker find the café footage and leak it. Then I released other pieces of information that damaged Apple’s reputation. I bought up her debts and called them in all at once.
I dismantled her life piece by piece.
When Ashley became pregnant, something inside me settled. I wanted to lock her down, keep her safe, keep her mine. I wanted a family with her. A real one. Not the twisted parody I had lived through before.
Years later I finally understood why my rebirth had happened on that exact day. It was so I would see Ashley. So I would have the chance to start over. To fix everything I had done wrong.
When our daughter, Amelia Ines, was born, I stayed home more. I was present. Not because I didn’t trust Ashley. I trusted her more than anyone. But because I wanted to be a good father. I wanted to be there for every moment, every milestone, every breath.
I wouldn’t let anything slip through the cracks. I would be the best goddamn father they could ever ask for.
I would learn from my mistakes.
I would do better.
As I was building a life worth guarding, the rest of the world was busy settling old debts. The last few years made sure of it.
After their trials, Marissa and Apple were both serving life sentences.
Justice had finally caught up to them, even if it took two lifetimes for me to see it. Apple’s mask had cracked, and the world had seen the monster underneath. It didn’t bring back the years she stole from me, but it brought closure.
Ashley’s father… he hadn’t survived the collapse of his company. Two years ago, crushed by debt and shame, he took his own life.
We adopted Evan not long after. Her half-brother. A quiet kid with too many shadows in his eyes. It took time for him to trust us, to trust me, but Amelia adored him from the start. Titan did too. Eventually Evan started smiling again. Laughing. Calling our house home.
Calling me Dad.
That one still hit me in the chest every time.
As for the others… life moved on for them too.
Payton had four kids now and lived happily with Thomas in her hometown. She came to visit Ashley once a year, the house turning loud and chaotic in the best way.
The rest of the time, their communication looked… questionable.
At least to me.
It was mostly the two of them sending each other social media reels back and forth.
Videos labeled “this is us,” “tell me this isn’t you,” or “I swear this is your child in ten years.”
Inside jokes. Parenting memes. Random clips that made no sense to me.
Sometimes they typed out actual conversations, but most of the time it was just a steady stream of reels, emojis, and chaotic commentary.
I didn’t pretend to understand half of it, but Ashley laughed, so I let it be.
Ashley told me Nick had finally found someone. They’d been together about a year now. I’d seen it for myself at Payton’s last birthday party.
He kept his distance. Didn’t seek Ashley out. Didn’t linger near her the way he used to.
Good.
There had been a time when he watched her like she was something just out of reach, something he was still hoping to get back. It had been obvious. Annoying.
Now that look was gone. Redirected somewhere else.
Good for him. One less problem.
Liam too. He had been with his girlfriend for two years.
Ashley said that meant he was over her. That if there had ever been anything to begin with, it was gone. She’d even told me, more than once, that Liam only pushed because I reacted. That if I stopped being so possessive, he’d stop playing with it.
I didn’t believe that.
Men don’t just move on from her. I would know.
He had always lingered too long, always found excuses to talk to her, always smiled a little too wide. And I had a feeling he knew exactly what he was doing half the time, dragging it out just enough to get under my skin.
Now he was occupied. Distracted.
Good.
I didn’t have to watch him hover around her as much anymore, pretending he wasn’t waiting for something that was never going to happen.
They had both finally backed off, and I slept easier because of it. Not careless. Just… less on edge.
I still paid attention. I wasn’t stupid. There was always someone looking at her.
That was the problem.
Ashley didn’t even try. She moved through the world like she had no idea what she did to people, like she didn’t see the way heads turned, the way attention followed her without effort.
People gravitated to her without even realizing it.
And I was always watching. Always a step ahead. Always making sure they understood, one way or another.
She wasn’t an option. And she was all mine.
Over the years Amy, Ashley’s friend, had surprised me the most.
She had always seemed harmless on the surface. Easygoing. Sharp, but in a way that didn’t draw attention. The kind of woman people underestimated without realizing it.
I didn’t know she was her hacker.
My own hacker, Anton, got curious and then obsessed. He wanted to know who kept feeding Ashley information about Apple, who kept slipping her files and warnings and digital footprints that weren’t hers. When he finally traced it back to Amy, he didn’t back off. He doubled down.
The two of them started hacking each other back and forth, trying to outsmart, outmaneuver, out-dig one another. At first I thought they were enemies.
Then I realized it was their version of flirting.
Basically foreplay.
Twisted, chaotic, borderline concerning foreplay, but it worked for them.
They had been together almost three years now. A strange pair. A dangerous pair. But they were loyal to Ashley, and that was all that mattered to me.
And us… we were good. Better than good.
Our daughter, Amelia Ines, was two. Bright. Stubborn. Observant in a way that made me both proud and uneasy. Too much like both of us. And Ashley was pregnant with our second baby. A boy this time.
Titan had taken his role as big brother very seriously. He followed Amelia everywhere, slept by her crib, and guarded Ashley like she was carrying the crown jewels.
And Evan.
He had settled into our family in a way that still caught me off guard sometimes.
He had grown into himself here. Into safety.
Into confidence. Into the role of big brother without anyone asking him to.
He read to Amelia at night, held her hand when she toddled too close to the stairs, and told her stories about superheroes that always ended with her giggling.
Now he was counting down the days until the new baby arrived. He talked about teaching his little brother everything he knew. He asked if he could help build the crib. He hovered around Ashley like a second, smaller bodyguard. He was proud. Protective. Excited.
He was ours.
Sometimes I looked at my life and couldn’t believe it belonged to me. A second chance. A real family. A home that didn’t feel like a battlefield. A wife who loved me without conditions or manipulation. Children who would grow up safe, protected, and wanted.
I had been given a rebirth, and I finally understood why.
It was so I could find Ashley.
So I could build this life.
So I could do better.
And I had.