Epilogue 1 #2
“For… logistics.”
Bea stared at him. Dimitri stared back, completely unreadable.
Killian cleared his throat. “You know what? I just remembered. We’re supposed to go into town. That thing. The thing we talked about.”
“What thing?” Bea asked.
“The… shopping thing.”
“We never talked about a shopping thing.”
“We did. Last week. You said you wanted to look at books.”
Bea’s suspicion was now at DEFCON 1, but the promise of a bookstore was enough to temporarily derail her interrogation. “Fine. But you’re all acting weird, and I’m going to figure out why.”
Nico stood smoothly, already grabbing his keys. “We’re not acting weird. You’re being paranoid.”
“I’m being observant.”
“Same thing.” Nico grabbed her hands and pulled her up off of the couch.
2:15 PM
Marco’s phone rang while he was halfway up a ladder, trying to string fairy lights across the balcony railing without electrocuting himself.
“What?” he answered, wedging the phone between his ear and shoulder.
“How’s it going?” Dimitri’s voice was low, careful.
“Great. Fantastic. I’ve only almost died twice.”
“Marco.” Dimitri sighed.
“We’re fine. Alexei’s handling the flowers, I’m handling the lights, and we’ve only had one minor fire.”
There was a pause. “Fire?”
“Very minor. Barely even counts.”
“Marco-” He starts but is quickly cut off.
“Relax. It’s under control. How’s Bea?”
“Suspicious.”
“Keep her distracted. We need at least four more hours.”
“We’re taking her to town. Books, coffee, maybe that boutique she likes.”
“Perfect. Romance her. Make her forget she has a functioning brain.” Marco laughs
Dimitri hung up, and Marco grinned at his phone before pocketing it and returning to the lights. Below him, Alexei was arranging roses in vases with the kind of intense focus usually reserved for defusing bombs. “You’re doing great, buddy,” Marco called down.
If looks could kill Marco would definitely be a dead man, “I hate you.” Alexei said.
“You love me.”
“Unfortunately.” Alexei sighs, a rose stem snapped in Alexei’s hand, and he closed his eyes like he was praying for patience. This was going great.
3:47 PM
The bookstore had turned into the boutique, which had turned into coffee, which had somehow turned into Nico suggesting they get manicures. “Manicures,” Bea repeated slowly.
“Yes.” He said
“You want to get manicures?” Asking again with a raised eyebrow.
“I think it would be relaxing.”
“You’ve never wanted to get a manicure in your life.”
“I’m expanding my horizons.”
Bea looked at Killian, who shrugged. Then at Dimitri, who was suddenly very interested in his phone again.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “What is happening right now?”
“Nothing’s happening,” all three of them said in unison.
Which was, of course, the least convincing thing they could have possibly said, but then Killian was steering her toward the spa, and Dimitri was holding the door, and Nico was already talking to the receptionist, and Bea decided that if they were going to be weird, she might as well get a manicure out of it.
5:02 PM
“It’s crooked,” Alexei said.
“It’s not crooked.” Marco defensively
“It’s absolutely crooked.”
Marco stepped back from the banner he’d been hanging, a simple, elegant thing that read Beatrice in flowing script, and tilted his head.
“Okay,” he admitted. “It’s a little crooked.”
“I told you to measure.” Alexei says pinching the bridge of his nose
“I don’t measure. I feel.”
“That’s the stupidest fucking think I have ever heard come out of your mouth.”
Marco laughed and climbed back up the ladder, adjusting the banner while Alexei held it steady from below.
The balcony was starting to look less like a construction zone and more like something out of a fairy tale, flowers everywhere, lights strung in delicate loops, candles waiting to be lit. It was beautiful and perfect for Bea.
“You think she’ll like it?” Marco asked, climbing down.
Alexei looked at the balcony, then at Marco. “She’ll love it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Alexei’s mouth curved slightly. “I did good.”
“We did good.” Marco gave him an offended look.
“I did most of the work.” Alexei grabs him by the shirt and pulls him into his chest.
“You did some of the work.” Marco says trying but failing to not look at Alexei’s mouth.
“You’re delusional but I wouldn’t have you any other way, now shut up and kiss me.” Alexei leans down slightly and places his lips over Marco’s, slow at first then his tongue slips into his mouth making both men groan.
They stood there, kissing for a few more minutes before breaking apart and getting back to work.
6:43 PM
The sun was starting to set when they got back to the estate, painting the sky in shades of gold and pink and deep, burning orange. Bea was relaxed, her nails painted a deep red that Killian had picked out, her hair still slightly damp from the spa. She felt good. Calm. Suspicious, but calm.
“Okay,” she said as they walked through the front door. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on now, or do I have to torture it out of you?”
Dimitri’s mouth curved. “Torture might be fun.”
“Dimitri.” She pouts as she sticks her bottom lip out.
“Come with us,” Nico said, taking her hand. “Please.”
There was something in his voice, something soft and nervous and so unlike him that Bea’s heart kicked in her chest.
“Okay,” she said quietly.
Killian took her other hand, and Dimitri moved behind her, and together they led her through the house, up the stairs, down the familiar hallway to the bedroom they all shared, but they didn’t stop at the bedroom. They stopped at the balcony doors and when Dimitri opened them, Bea’s breath caught.
The balcony was transformed. Flowers everywhere, roses and peonies and delicate white blooms she couldn’t name.
Fairy lights strung like stars, glowing soft in the dimming light.
Candles waiting to be lit. And in the center of it all, a small table set for four, with champagne chilling in a bucket and the city spread out below them like a promise.
“Oh my God,” Bea whispered.
Behind her, she heard Marco’s voice, low and amused. “Told you she’d love it.”
Alexei’s dry response: “You’re still taking credit for my work.”
Bea turned, and there they were, Marco and Alexei, standing just inside the bedroom, looking pleased and exhausted and absolutely chaotic.
“You two did this?”
“I mostly did this,” Marco said, grinning.
“You mostly did not,” Alexei added.
Bea laughed, and it came out shaky, because her heart was pounding now, because she was starting to understand what this was, what this meant. She turned back to the balcony. To the three men standing there, watching her with expressions that made her chest ache.
“Beatrice,” Dimitri said softly, and the world narrowed to just this: the sunset, the flowers, the lights. The three men she loved, about to change everything.
Dimitri stepped forward first, and of course he did. The eldest. The one who had learned to lead before he’d learned to love, who had spent years building walls only to let her dismantle them brick by careful brick.
He took her hand, and his touch was warm, steady, exactly like him. “Six months ago,” he said quietly, “you stood on this balcony and told us you felt lucky.”
Bea’s throat tightened. She remembered. God, she remembered.
“You were wrong,” Dimitri continued, his dark eyes holding hers with that intensity that still made her knees weak.
“Luck had nothing to do with it. You survived. You fought. You became someone strong enough to let yourself be loved, and that,” His voice caught, just slightly.
“That took more courage than anything I’ve ever done. ”
“Dimitri-” she started.
“Let me finish.” His thumb brushed across her knuckles, a gesture so tender it made her chest ache.
“I have spent my entire life being certain. Certain of my decisions. Certain of my path. Certain that control was the only thing that mattered.” He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was softer.
“Then you walked into my life and made me certain of only one thing, that I want to spend every day for the rest of my life choosing you.”
Behind them, from inside the bedroom, Marco’s voice drifted out: “Oh, that’s good. That’s really good.”
“Shut up, Marco,” Alexei hissed.
“I’m emotionally invested!”
Bea laughed through the tears that were already threatening, and Dimitri’s mouth curved in that small, private smile that was only ever for her.
Killian moved next, and he didn’t take her hand so much as he pulled her into him, one hand cupping her face with a gentleness that contradicted everything about his size, his strength, his reputation.
“I’m not good with words,” he said roughly.
“Not like Dimitri. Not like Nico. But I know this,” His thumb traced her cheekbone, and his eyes were fierce, burning.
“I know that I would burn the world down for you. I know that every time you smile at me, it feels like I’m seeing the sun for the first time.
I know that you’re the only person who’s ever made me want to be better, softer, more, without making me feel like I had to be less of who I am. ”
Bea’s breath hitched.
“You make me want to build instead of destroy,” Killian continued, his voice dropping to something raw and honest. “You make me want to come home and I’ve never,” He stopped, swallowed hard. “I’ve never had that before. Never wanted it. Until you.”
“Killian,” Bea whispered, and he kissed her forehead, her temple, the corner of her mouth.
“Marry us,” he said against her skin. “Let me spend the rest of my life protecting you, loving you, making you laugh when you’re trying to be mad at me.”
From inside: “He’s doing better than I expected.”
“Marco, I swear to God-” Alexei growls
“What? I’m proud!” Marco defends himself
Bea was crying now, actually crying, and she didn’t even care. She looked at Nico, who had been standing slightly back, watching with that careful, analytical expression that meant he was feeling too much and trying to process it all at once.