Her chest rises one last time. Then stops.
I press my fingers to her neck, searching desperately for a pulse. But it’s gone.
I sit back on my heels, tears carving rivers down my face. It’s over. It’s finally over.
Stefan drops his gun and pulls me to my feet. He crushes me against him, holding me so tightly my ribs protest. “I’m sorry,” he whispers into my hair. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too,” I sob. “I should have trusted you. I?—”
“No.” He leans just enough to capture my gaze. “You had every reason not to trust me. I lied to you. I manipulated you. I?—”
“I lied, too,” I interrupt. “I met with Natalia. I helped Mikayla escape. I?—”
“We’re both idiots.”
I laugh through my tears. “Yeah. We are.”
He cups my face in his hands, thumbs erasing my tears. “From now on, it’s honesty. No more secrets. No more lies.”
His mouth touches mine—tender and devastating all at once, flavored with salt and copper and the raw, brutal taste of what we’ve just survived.
When he pulls back, Iakov is standing beside us. “Thank you,” he murmurs to Stefan.
Stefan nods. “I’m sorry about your father.”
“I’m sorry about yours.”
The two men stare at each other for a moment. Then Stefan extends his hand. Iakov takes it. They shake once, firm and final.
“We’re done here,” Stefan says.
“Yeah.” Iakov looks down at Natalia’s body. “We are.”
Stefan turns to Taras, who’s been standing guard over the armed men. “Call the cleaners. Make sure this place is sanitized.”
“Yes,pakhan.”
Stefan takes my hand and leads me toward the car. I don’t look back. I don’t want to see the bodies. Don’t want to remember the blood.
I just want to go home.
We climb into the car. Stefan starts the engine but doesn’t move. “Are you okay?” he asks.
“No,” I admit. “Not yet, and maybe not for a long time. But eventually, I will be.”
He reaches over and places his hand on my stomach. Our daughter kicks against his palm. “We’re going to be okay,” he promises. “All three of us.”
I cover his hand with mine. “Yeah. We are.”
He pulls out of the clearing and drives. The farmhouse disappears behind us, swallowed by trees.
I lean my head against the window and close my eyes.
EPILOGUE: STEFAN
ONE MONTH LATER
The garden looks like something out of a dream.
