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“They killed Natasha and the child. They said it was my fault, and they were right.”
“No, Colt,” I snap. “You had to try.”
“Because of me, an innocent woman and my child are dead, Lexi,” he says fiercely.
“But you couldn’t just stay there. You were trying to do what was best for your family.” Now I’m crying, my voice coming out distorted from sobs. “And now you’ve got a new family. Oh, Colt, I’m so sorry for yelling.”
“Don’t,” he says, then leans close, staring into my eyes. “Say that again.”
“I’m so?—”
“Not that part,” he says intensely, wrapping his arms warmly around me, sending more shimmers up my arm.
“You’ve got a new family: me, Colt. I’m your family, and we’ll have a baby one day. Maybe we’ll call her Ruby with an i.”
Colt laughs, but it’s a half cry, too, his emotion choking him up. “I went somewhere after I left the hospital,” he says. “I didn’t come straight here.”
“More secrets?” I ask, but somehow, I can make my tone lighthearted and love-filled. There’s so much relief coursing through me.
He stands, leaves the office, then returns a minute later with a small box in his hand. My heart shimmers and dances as he reaches down, takes my hand, and pulls me to my feet. Shadow watches with his head tilted, his dark eyes fixated, treats forgotten.
“I love you, Lexi,” Colt says fiercely, sinking his hand into my hip and pulling me close. “I loved you the first moment I saw you, my fierce woman with the screwdriver. I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t, ever. I love you.”
“I love you too, Colt.” I shudder. I’m on the verge of breaking down. “Colt.”
“I went to get you a ring,” he says huskily. “I was going to be romantic or try to be. Take you somewhere glamorous like you deserve.”
“I’m not a mafia princess, Colt,” I tell him. “I don’t need all that. I only need you.”
“Lexi, Lexi Fitzgerald…” He swallows as he steps back, looking down at me so intensely. He kneels, opens the ring box, and shows me the biggest diamond I’ve ever seen. I gasp, it’s so big.
“Colt!” I yell.
He smiles. “Will you marry me?”
“Colt!”
“Is that a yes?”
I laugh. “Yes, yes, but it’s too much.”
“That’s for me to decide.”
He takes the ring from the box, standing up as he slides it onto my finger. When he sweeps me into his arms, I kiss him with all the passion, all the love bursting in my body. Less than ten minutes ago, I thought it was all falling apart, but nothing can break us.
“I love you so much, Colt,” I say. “I don’t care if it makes me crazy. Or if it’s cheesy. Or if I get melodramatic from time to time. I love you.”
“I love you, Lexi. You’re my woman, the only one I’ll ever need.”
He cuddles me to his chest, and I whisper, “You’re a good person. The best person I know.”
EPILOGUE
A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER
Dante
Standing at the edge of the ring with Elio, I watch Colt and Luca spar. It makes me feel ashamed about the fact I was unconscious as Colt saved my ass and got us out of that cellar. I can’t remember anything after they slipped that needle into my neck. The vest saved my life, but the bullet still stunned me.
“Smile, Dante,” Elio laughs, nudging me. “Serpents are gone. Business is back to usual. The city will be even better than before.”
I remember the old Elio, when I was first making a name for myself in the Family, the grim demon he was before he met Scarlet.
After the round, Colt lets out a whoop from the other side of the gym. He’s standing over his gym bag, his phone in his hand. He turns to us. When I first met him, he seemed intense and intimidating, but he’s far brighter than that. Far more boy-like, in a way.
He’s not like me. He’s done bad things, sure, but he never enjoyed them. He’s not hiding a secret from the Family.
“You seem suspiciously happy,” Luca says, laughing.
Colt is grinning from ear to ear. He’s been like this since Lexi agreed to marry him, but this is even more obvious.
“She’s pregnant,” he says. “Lexi’s pregnant!”
We all gather around him, saying congratulations, and I mean it, but I’d never want it for myself.
EPILOGUE
FOUR YEARS LATER
Shadow
“He deserved it,” Colt says from the front of the human metal box.
“I know,” Lexi whispers.
“Deserved it,” Georgina Rubi Walker says, her hand buried in my fur. She’s a special human, and that’s saying something. All three of my humans are special, but this little one is something else. There’s a loud bark of protection in me when I scent her.
“Wow, very good,” Lexi says. “You’re a little wordsmith, young lady.”
“Lady,” my little human beams.
“He was sentenced, and the sentence was carried out,” Colt says, in his steady voice, always ready, my human, always tough. However, his scents are of laughter and relief these days. Whenever he touches his lady human, they turn to something else.
