Chapter 168 168
Chapter 168 168
“I’m sorry.” I’ve never spoken these words so often in my life, but right now, they’re the only words worth speaking. “I shouldn’t have reacted like that earlier. I should have trusted you.”
She shakes her head. “No, I… I lied to you. I’m the one who didn’t trust you when I should have.” Her big blue eyes fix on me, shining like stars. “I was so focused on saving the man I hated, I didn’t stop to think about the man I loved.”
“And do you still?” I’ve never felt so vulnerable in my life. So completely at the mercy of somebody else, somebody who could break me or make me with a single word. “Love me?”
But that’s what faith is, isn’t it? A leap in the dark, a gamble with no guarantees of success. To have faith in someone means trusting they won’t break you, even when they have the power to.
Mia gazes at me with surprise. Like she wasn’t expecting me to ask. To surrender that power back to her.
But I do. Because I trust her.
And I can’t fucking live without her.
“Yes,” she whispers finally. “With all my heart.”
A weight lifts from my chest. I press another kiss to the back of her hand, intertwine our fingers. “Then marry me.”
This time, I don’t ask.
Mia’s face lights up all at once. She looks so fucking beautiful like this—the mother of my children, the woman who stole my heart.
My future wife.
“Of course I’ll marry you.” Her voice quivers as she speaks. “Of course I’ll be your wife.”
“Not just my wife.” I draw closer, knocking our foreheads together. If Eli feels a little squished in this awkward family embrace, he doesn’t complain. “Be mine, Mia Winters. Belong to me, the same way I belong to you.”
Her lips find mine. We kiss briefly and innocently. A seal on our promise and nothing more. “I already am,” she says. “I’ve been yours since the day I met you, Yulian Lozhkin. Yours and no one else’s.”
We stay like that for a while, resting against each other. Just me, her, and our kids snuggled between us.
It dawns on me that this is it. What I’ve been searching for, without even knowing it. What I’ve been missing since that fateful night, when everything was ripped away from me.
Family.
“Thank you,” I whisper. “For taking a chance on me.”
Her eyes crinkle. “Thank you for parking like an ass.”
“Ouch.”
“Hey, I said thank you.”
“Am I supposed to thank you for towing my car?”
“It would be the polite thing to do.”
I shake my head. This girl. This brilliant, rebellious girl who turned my whole world upside down with one tow truck call.
If I had to go back, I’d block her car in every time.
“Hey.” Mia lifts her head. “I just realized.”
“What?”
“That we’re free.” Her voice colors with joy. “Brad’s gone. Prizrak’s gone. We don’t need to hide anymore.”
She’s right. For twenty years, my mission has been to get revenge. To annihilate Prizrak, make sure they’d never hurt anyone the way they hurt me again.
Now, my mission’s over.
“Then we won’t.” I brush Mia’s hair out of her face and savor the warmth of her skin under mine. “We’ll have the biggest wedding in New York.”
“The biggest in the world?”
“If that’s what you want.”
She shakes her head, still smiling. “All I want is you.” Her hand comes up to cover mine. “I don’t care about anything else.”
I let myself feel the strength of her grip, the life inside her veins. Two lives, both mine to protect. “I’m not going anywhere, kotyonok.”
“Good,” she says. “Because this is a two-way street. You want me to be yours? Then I get to have you, too.”
“You’ll have me.”
“Forever.”
“That’s a hell of a long deadline for a contract.”
“Yes.” She’s fighting down a grin. “But I’ll still sign it.”
“You’ve said it now.” I cup her chin. “No takesies-backsies.”
We kiss again. Eli grumbles something that sounds suspiciously close to “Gross,” making us both laugh.
I put one hand around his shoulders. The other, I place on Mia’s belly. My family. My future. And finally, I know what it is—my new mission. My new purpose.
To protect them.
No matter what.
EPILOGUE: MIA
September in Manhattan is pure chaos.
I’m rushing down the stairs of NYU, racing against the clock. I still have to pick up Eli from school, get my dress, change—
“Ms. Winters!” One of my old professors runs up to me. “I just wanted to congratulate you on your return to NYU. Heard the admissions committee voted in your favor today. Can’t wait to see you back in my classroom!”
“Thank you,” I say, accepting his handshake. “Can’t wait to be back. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really need to—”
“I remember when you first showed up,” he bulldozes over me with a wistful sigh. “So full of promise. I always knew you’d make your way back to…”
He launches himself on a leisurely stroll down memory lane. Normally, I wouldn’t mind it in the slightest, but today of all days, I’m on the most merciless timeline of all.
My wedding day’s.
By the time he finally lets me go, I’m not just late—I’m desperate. I’ll never make it in time. Why did the admissions committee have to pick today of all days? Is the universe still hell-bent on messing with my life, or am I just that unlucky?
Then I get to my car, and—
“Oh, come on!” I glare at the white behemoth parked askew right next to Rhonda the Honda, effectively blocking her in. A limousine—on the freaking curb of NYU. “Seriously?!”
Calm down, Mia. Deep breaths, Mia. You can’t risk jail today of all—
“Whose freaking car is this?!” I start yelling. “Who left this giant ass dildo here?! ‘Cause let me tell you, if you think it’s gonna compensate for anything, you’ve got another thing—”
“What exactly should I be compensating for, kotyonok?”
… coming.
I swallow. Hard.
Then I turn towards the voice, and—
Oh. My. Abs.
As a general rule, Yulian looks like he’s been sculpted by the gods themselves. I thought I’d get over it, with time—the wow effect of his GQ stubble, lightning-in-a-bottle eyes, and cheesegrater eight-pack.
I was wrong.