Epilogue
Five months later
CALEB
I unlock the door and stride inside. The apartment has been furnished to my specifications, but it looks better than expected. I run my finger along the kitchen island, which is the only thing separating the kitchen from the rest of the open space.
It’s small, but it’ll do.
Keith Wolfe walks in, eyeing me like I’m crazy.
“This is mine?” he asks.
“Free and clear.” I bought this small apartment complex back in January and spent the next month bringing it up to code—and fashion. Well, my contractor spent the next month renovating it. Margo picked wall colors and flooring, but she didn’t know the half of it.
There are six apartments in this building, tucked in a cozy neighborhood in Brooklyn. It’s two blocks from the other building I bought.
Real estate mogul at eighteen. Who would’ve thought I’d end up following in my dad’s footsteps after all?
Josh helped me. Once David was arrested, my inheritance was given to me without restrictions. Still, seventeen was a bit young to be buying property. I waited until April rolled around, eyeing the market, and then made my move.
Two properties.
Ten apartments between the two of them, and eight are already filled with tenants.
The least I can do is give one to Margo’s dad.
He got a job in the city and has been commuting from Rose Hill. He joins Margo, Robert, and Lenora for dinner every Friday night. On Wednesdays, Margo goes to his Rose Hill apartment, occasionally accompanied by me.
The original plan was that Margo and I were going to move into the building after graduation. She got an acceptance letter to NYU a few weeks ago that I intercepted. But an even better one came today.
And I can’t pass it up.
“Does Margo know?” He’s at the window, staring out at the street.
“Not yet.”
He runs his hand through his hair. It’s gotten longer since his time in prison. When I look at him, I feel guilt.
Guilt that I harbored all this unnecessary anger, that I wasted years of my life festering in it. But if I hadn’t, I might’ve moved on from them. From Margo.
“You should forgive yourself, son.” Keith stops in front of me. “If you need forgiveness from me, you’ve got it. But… I never held anything against you.”
I suck in a deep breath. I was less nervous negotiating a price for this place than I am talking to him. “I am guilty for believing their lies. If only I had?—”
“No.” His hand lands on my shoulder. “You were ten. Innocent in all of this.”
“Margo got into her dream school.” I pull out the acceptance letter. “Robert and Lenora intercepted it so I could surprise her. But it’s going to take us away from here.”
His eyes fill with tears. “My baby girl got into college?”
“Full ride scholarship and everything,” I say, handing him the letter.
He turns away and slips it from the envelope, reading it silently. His shoulders move as he takes a deep breath, and he turns back around with a smile. “You grew up.”
“I did my best under the circumstances.”
Keith pats my shoulder. “Thank you. Seriously. Not many people would go to the lengths you have, first securing me a job, and then buying an apartment and not charging rent?”
“Buying the whole damn building,” I correct. “And I was kind of hoping you’d be my building supervisor, seeing as how we won’t be around…”
He laughs. “It’s the least I can do.”
“Do you ever wonder if you’re making the wrong decision?”
He narrows his eyes. “I hope you’re not referring to my daughter.”
“No, no. Just…” I gesture around. “Maybe I should try to separate myself from him.”
“It’s okay to miss your dad, Caleb.” He looks away. “But it’s okay to recognize his faults and want to do better.”
That’s true.
We’re both bad at heart-to-hearts, apparently. But besides Josh, he’s the only one who’s ever been close to a positive male role model.
“He was a good man. He helped me out, too, after my mother cut me off. We hadn’t spoken in a few years, but he was glad to offer his home to Amber, Margo, and me.” He exhales. “I forgave him for sleeping with my wife. He told me a few weeks before he died. It wasn’t you or Margo who ruined the ruse—he died when your mother decided it was time.”
My breath comes out shakily. “Margo had said as much. That you knew, and she didn’t tell.”
He nods. “I wasn’t aware of the extent of her memory block, or what you knew or didn’t know. It’s only good to uproot the past if you’re prepared to deal with the trauma.”
“Margo wouldn’t have been ready if she didn’t talk to you.” I grab the keys I had left on the counter for him. “I have one last thing I want to ask you.”
MARGO
I shift each and every way, analyzing myself in the mirror.
My hair is longer. My skin clear and glowing. My makeup is flawless.
And yet, something feels… off.
“The dress,” Riley says from the doorway.
I jump. Caught staring at myself like a fool.
“Huh?”
Riley chuckles. “The dress doesn’t match the vibe. Which is fine—I brought you one.” She holds up a plastic bag covering a black dress.
“I never thought I’d be going to prom,” I admit. “And you’re sure you don’t want to go?”
“As much as I’d love to watch you slow dance with Caleb, I think I’m going to pass. I’d rather just help you get ready, then go home and watch The Breakfast Club .”
I roll my eyes. “Eli’s still…?”
Well, I wouldn’t know exactly what he’s still doing, since she’s refused, for months to talk about it. She suffers in silence.
“Try this on,” she orders, shoving the bag into my hands. “This is going to be so much better than the masquerade ball for you.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Is it?”
“Yeah, because Caleb is in love with you and you’re in love with him, and things have been… Good. Like, painful to witness good.”
She has a point—about the painful to witness part anyway. Dad was released from prison shortly after David, Lydia, Tobias, and Claire were arrested. Mom was sent to a rehabilitation center, where she remains to this day, and Claire is in a juvenile detention center until she turns eighteen. Tobias surprised us by turning on everyone viciously, supplying evidence he had stored over the years.
Turns out, the ex-public defender knew just what to keep in order to incriminate… just about everyone.
It was impressive.
I stayed with Robert and Lenora. It was a decision the four of us made tearfully in the living room. All of us were a crying mess by the time the conversation was over. But the way they accepted Dad into the fold like he was part of their family, too? It broke my heart and healed it at the same time.
And Dad…
I let out a sigh, closing myself in the bathroom.
He knew me as a child. Ten years old, seeing only the good in the world. Now he has a seventeen-year-old daughter.
I’ve been through the foster system and survived.
Came out ahead, if you ask me.
Caleb is a stage five clinger—and I mean that in the best way possible. Once we returned to school, everyone magically backed off. He’d cast a magic spell. That… and hockey season was in full swing.
Fall semester was nothing compared to the spring. With the possibility of the state championship on the line, it seems like everyone is waiting breathlessly for the result of each game.
All Hail King Caleb . I snorted at the first person who said it, but it was a thing.
“Margo,” Riley calls, knocking on the door. “Do you need help?”
I jump. Whoops.
“One second.” I change into the dress, pulling the straps into place and struggling to zip it on my own. It fits like a glove—small miracles, since Riley is a size smaller than me.
When I open the door, her mouth drops open. “Damn.”
It’s a halter top with a deep V neckline, similar to the one Riley wore to the last dance we attended. This one is beaded, glittering. From my hips up, it’s skintight. The silky fabric goes to the floor, but it’s the slit that ends halfway up my thigh that’s the real showstopper. Paired with skinny, strappy heels?
I kind of feel like a warrior princess. But also?—
“I feel like I’m going to throw up. How many people are down there?”
“Just…” She rolls her eyes. “Don’t think about it. It’s just Caleb and Hanna, Iris, your foster parents and dad…”
I swallow. “Is that all?”
Iris has suddenly found herself in our circle. Along with the shocking revelation that Hanna and Caleb were half-siblings, and Hanna was pretty obviously attached to me, everyone involved decided that she shouldn’t be kept away from us. Caleb and I have been including her on our weekend dates.
What started as Iris waiting in the car, staring stoically ahead, soon became her getting out of the car and chatting with Robert and Lenora on the porch. That transitioned into staying for a drink or dinner. And it wasn’t too surprising when Iris dropped off Hanna to go out with Lenora and Robert.
“Lipstick,” Riley suggests. She shows me a few different options from her purse. She has a mental debate, then hands me one. “Here.”
I know better than to try to argue, so I take it from her hand and swipe it on. I’ll give my best friend this: she knows how to pick her lipsticks.
“Thank you,” I say quietly.
“Thank you for giving me this distraction.” She smiles. “Besides, I’ll go to prom next year once all of you are gone.”
“What are you going to do without me?”
She throws her arms around my bare shoulders. “Don’t get me started. Graduation day, I’m going to be a wreck with a capital W.”
I hug her back. “It’s not too late to come.”
“It’s definitely too late.” She steps away. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
She leaves before me, and it’s oddly reminiscent of the masquerade ball. Except then…
Then, I wasn’t half the woman I am now.
I take a moment to look at myself in the mirror.
Strength comes from being pushed to your limits and surviving . Dad told me that the day he got out of prison and straight into my arms.
And, my girl, you’ve survived.
I fix the edge of my lipstick and flip my hair over my shoulder, then go to the stairs. Down I go, reliving the déjà vu.
Caleb is waiting at the bottom just as I knew he would be. His gaze sweeps up and down my body, and his eyes darken. I take a moment to relish it before my cheeks heat up. Goosebumps scatter down my arms.
He offers his hand, and I take it. The soft squeeze tells me I’m not alone.
I look around, but… we are alone.
“Where’d they go?” I whisper.
“They’re giving us privacy.” He taps under my chin, unable to withhold his grin.
In the past few months, both of us have started smiling more. The smiles come freely, with wild abandon. It’s the result of levity after months— years —of guilt and shame and anger.
Claire may have said I was just going from one cage to another, but that isn’t true.
In the end, the truth has opened our doors.
We just need to fly away.
“You remember the apartment?” he asks me.
I frown. “The one in Brooklyn.”
He was renovating. It wasn’t just an apartment he got , it was an entire apartment building he bought . And then refinished. I helped him pick out colors and finishes, but every time I asked if it was ours, he said no.
“Yes,” he says. “Well, I rented out all the apartments.”
I suck in a breath.
“It was always our plan to move there, right?”
I squint at him. “Clearly not, since you just filled it. It was our plan that we’d both be going to college in the city. Well—that was your plan. I’m just going to be a fast-food worker, or a receptionist at the company you own, or?—”
“Easy,” he murmurs. “You don’t think you got in?”
“Literally everyone has heard about their schools except for me.”
He removes something from his pocket.
An envelope.
I take it, unfolding it slowly.
“This is my mail.” I look up at him. “You know it’s illegal to open someone else’s mail, right?”
He laughs. “Call Masters on me, then.”
I roll my eyes. “And give him an excuse to throw you back in jail? I’ll pass.”
I return my attention to the envelope. My hands are shaking, but I pull open the paper and read it slowly.
I got in—but not to New York University.
My dream school.
The one I most certainly did not tell Caleb about.
“I… How?”
“‘Dear Ms. Wolfe,’” Caleb recites, his eyes burning into mine. “‘Congratulations! We’re pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Crown Point University.’”
I cover my mouth. Crown Point was a pipe dream.
“I’m going to college,” I repeat. “Where are you going?”
Caleb snickers. “Same place, baby. You can’t get rid of me that easy.”
That’s why he rented out the apartment building in Brooklyn . Because we’re not going to New York… we’re going to Crown Point.
“She’s going to college!” my dad hollers, emerging from the dining room.
He’s wearing a blue-and-white CPU t-shirt. Lenora, Robert, and Iris are close behind him, and they, too, are wearing the school’s colors. Riley and Hanna appear with a hand-painted sign that says, Congrats on being accepted to CPU!
“Don’t make me cry.” I blink rapidly at the ceiling. My eyes burn. “Thank you all for the surprise, but I can’t…”
“They gave you a full ride,” Caleb says in my ear.
My mouth drops open. “What?”
He just shrugs, grinning.
I squint at him. He wouldn’t have paid for it upfront, right? He’s not that crazy…
He is.
I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”
“One more thing,” he says.
I cough. “You’re kidding. This is just prom… What on earth are you doing?”
There’s a black velvet box in his hand.
“Are you proposing to me?”
He looks around. “Why not? We’re surrounded by everyone who loves us.”
“Because—”
“You promised me forever,” he says, kneeling. He takes my hand.
His thumb skates just below the bracelet on my wrist, eliciting a shiver.
“I just want to make it even more official.”
“You…” I suck in a deep breath. “You’re impossibly infuriating sometimes.”
His brow furrows.
I continue, “And you just assume that I like surprises. Which, for the record, I don’t. And you’re bossy. And?—”
“Are you just going to list my worst attributes while I’m trying to propose?”
“I’m just getting this off my chest, okay? It was my idea to marry you eight years ago. This isn’t a new idea. And you’ve picked up some bad habits along the way?—”
Riley snorts.
“But it doesn’t mean I don’t love you.” I shrug and wiggle my fingers in his hand. “I don’t want to know what not being in love with you feels like. So, okay. I’m ready.”
He smirks. “You take things to an extreme, baby.”
“Yes.”
“Will you marry me? And love me until we’re old and gray?”
I can’t help it. In the eleventh hour, seconds left on the clock—we’re doing sports analogies here, people—I glance at my dad.
Did I think he was ever going to walk me down the aisle, let alone be able to witness the man of my dreams propose? No.
He nods at me. A barely there movement.
He isn’t surprised.
He knew .
And my heart… it just explodes with happiness. Because Caleb knew how much this would mean to me.
A lump forms in my throat.
“Yes,” I answer. “It’s not even a question?—”
He rises almost too fast for me to track, lunging like a shark diving out of the water. He scoops me up and spins me around, holding me tightly to his chest. I hold on to his shoulders, laughing as we twirl.
“Not that I had any doubt,” he says in my ear. “After all we’ve been through.”
“You asked my dad?”
“I did. And Robert and Lenora, just to be safe.”
I pull back so I can look him in the eye.
He’s dead serious.
To hell with having an audience. I grab Caleb’s face and kiss him. It’s the only way to express how I feel.
I get to live my happily ever after with my best friend—my devious, loving, wicked man.
THE END