Page 169 of What Comes Around

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.

Epilogue: Ashley

Years later, Knox and I sat on the couch, the evening news playing quietly in the background. It was mostly noise until a segment caught our attention.

“…inmate Apple Richards has been formally charged with murder following a violent altercation inside Cook County Jail…”

We watched the report in silence.

“She finally crossed that line,” I murmured.

Knox didn’t respond.

When I turned toward him, something in his expression had shifted, his gaze fixed somewhere past the television, distant, like he wasn’t really seeing it anymore.

He exhaled slowly, dragging a hand over the back of his neck. “You know… I’ve carried this guilt for years.”

I angled my body toward him, studying his face. “Guilt for what?”

He hesitated, jaw tightening slightly, like he was deciding whether to say it at all. Then he did.