Page 908 of Coal Hearts

Tess grinned her savage little grin. “Then they’ll be proud to have such badass fathers.”

“And if law enforcement get tetchy?”

“Meh, they’ve turned a blind eye to you for decades. It’s a story. A gruesome one but...still just a story.” Bundling up the pages, she placed the stack on her bedside table. “I think it’s good that people see the truth, even if they don’t believe it’s real.”

Crawling over me, she straddled my hips and unbuttoned my shirt with that familiar look in her blue-grey eyes. “Now...maître.”

Instantly, the beast inside me woke up.

Yanked at its leash.

Got ready to play.

Grabbing her around the waist, I threw her off me, launched off the bed, and tossed her over my shoulder. “You know what happens when you call me that, esclave.”

She squirmed as I spanked her ass. “I get lucky?”

I chuckled. “No. You get to scream.”

Epilogue Four

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Peter

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Another couple of years later...

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“OH MY GOD. LOOK!” LUCY dashed toward the quaint bookshop as we strolled through central London. Her bright red hair shone like fire in the late afternoon sunshine. Her luscious curves bundled in thick winter woollies.

We’d caught the tube to the city for the weekend. Scoping out the local pubs for ideas and menu additions.

Ever since I’d purchased the rambling two-hundred-year-old pub off her father, Lucy had agreed to help me run it even though she’d been studying to go into hotel management. I’d said...why not do both?

We had the space.

The time.

The drive.

She’d come up with the great idea to renovate the unused attic into cute bedrooms instead of building an addition. Together, we’d turned a breaking-even business into a tidy money earner.

It also helped that Henri had deposited five million euros into my bank account.

He hadn’t even asked.

He’d just enlisted Ben to hack into my system and boom...

I woke up a millionaire.

I’d tried to give it back, but he’d towered over me, and for a second, I saw him as Master H and not as my best friend. The triggers didn’t often catch me unawares these days. The hauntings of all those we’d lost remembered with fondness instead of grief. We’d held a funeral for all those who’d died and those who’d survived stayed in touch in the group chat.

Four years had passed since we’d gotten free, but...every now and again, a man would look at me a little too intently or a certain word would make me flinch.

Thanks to the many scars on my body, Lucy had asked what’d happened when she first saw me naked.