“That sounds nice.” I grinned and imagined rediscovering all of my favorite places with them by my side. They’d missed so much more since they were building the Devil’s Demons to secure my freedom. And now it was time for us to enjoy all that life offered.
We drifted off into a contented silence. The stars gleaming above us enraptured us as we contemplated the thousands of trails and turns ahead. But one thing was for certain, wherever life took us next, we would be together. The devil and her three demons.
Epilogue
Giana
Oneyearlater.
I turned off the computer with a sigh and leaned back in my chair as I stared at my calendar. The afternoon sun shone brightly through the blinds, casting slatted shadows over the worn carpeted floor. I couldn’t believe it had been a year since we took down Angelo and the Barones left East Haven, a year since we’d lain on the grass and stared up at the stars like they might hold the answers to the universe.
“Ms. Bardot.” My receptionist, Lisa, knocked on the door, her long blonde hair cascading over one shoulder as she gave me a tentative smile. “I have those building plans you asked for.”
The town hadn’t forgotten everything my guys and I did that night, either. Of course, everyone was grateful, but they wouldn’tforget what we had to do, that we had made ourselves into the villains to fight off the crime family plaguing our town, and we could never fully come back from that. There would always be a hint of bloodlust that still sang in our veins.
“Thanks.” I stretched as I stood, working out the kinks that had formed from hours at my computer. “You can leave them on the desk.”
Lisa grinned and placed the stack of paperwork on my desk. It was the drawings and schematics for the new school that were planned to start construction next year. For the first year in the town’s recent history, we had population growth. After Lorenzo moved, a few minor crime families had tried to set up here, but we’d quickly sent them packing—the Devil’s Demons, along with the new chief of police that was.
Now we had builders planning new subdivisions, and the projected growth of new families was enough that the small elementary school wouldn’t have enough classrooms.
“Are you heading out?” There was a knowing twinkle in Lisa’s eyes as she backed through the open doorway.
It was the last Friday of the month, which meant one thing. It was fight night. “Definitely.” I couldn’t keep the grin off my face even if I’d tried. It had become a tradition that I left early on fight nights and went to see each of my guys before the main event. And I knew they had something special in store for me since it was one year since we ended the Barone’s reign in East Haven.
“I’ll send any calls that come in for you to voicemail.” Lisa waved as she headed back to her desk. “Have fun tonight.”
“See you on Monday.” Warmth flooded my chest as I gathered my things and closed the door behind me. The gold nameplate on the door never failed to ignite a delighted spark in my chest. ‘Giana Bardot - Town Councilor.’
Since the mayor had died that night, celebrating with Angelo, an election was held not long after, where I’d decided to try my hand at politics. There was no better way to weed out the corruption still plaguing the town than to ingratiate myself into their ranks.
Which was probably another reason that the town was still wary of us. We had to hold another election shortly after I exposed five councilors for their role in keeping the Barones in power, and then they mysteriously‘disappeared.’
My magenta heels clicked on the tiled floor as I strode out into the foyer of City Hall, waving to all the employees racing around the offices as they rushed to finish their work before the weekend.
I smoothed down my cream pencil skirt and silk blouse, making sure I hadn’t managed to spill anything on them before I headed to the guys. I still wore my leather jacket, crop tops, and short skirts, but similar to when I went to visit the bank manager, clothes were like a weapon I wielded. When I was verbally cutting down men twice my age in council meetings, it was best to look the part and have them sweating, rather than give anyone the chance to label me as unprofessional.
The cool autumn breeze wrapped around me as I strode out the front door, and waved thank you to the man who held it open for me.
Once the attacks slowed down, the Demons disbanded. Well, on paper, we were disbanded, but we all knew that if another threat arose, then we’d regroup to take care of them.
I walked over to my matte grey Porsche Cayenne and climbed inside. It was one of my few extravagant purchases so far, apart from the few trips we’d been on. The guys hated it when I spent my money on them, but that was what it was for. I made anonymous donations to local projects as well as charities all over the world. Louis was also great at investing, so themoney was growing faster than I could give it away, but I was determined to do something good with it, something that Angelo and Tommaso would both hate.
The chime of my ringtone shook me from my thoughts as I pulled my phone from my purse to find Sophia’s name and her grinning face smiling back at me.
“Hey, Soph.” I placed my phone in the holder on the dash, propping it up so I didn’t have to hold it for the video call.
“These textbooks are killing me,” Sophia groaned as she flipped the camera to show me the stack of law books piled high atop her coffee table. “Please tell me you’re just as miserable with all this studying. I thought we put this all behind us after our undergrad. Whose idea was it to go back to school while we still worked full-time, by the way?”
“It was yours.” I chuckled and pressed the ignition.
Despite Merrick and Spade’s love of vintage cars, both Kellan and I had decided to go with something a little more modern, much to Merrick’s chagrin. But when it was a choice between annoying Merrick and heated seats, heated seats won every single time. Besides, annoying Merrick was one of my favorite things to do, especially when it ended with him smacking my ass and fucking me into the mattress or whatever hard surface was around at the time.
“Is it too late to quit?” she asked, flipping the camera back to her face as she dramatically laid her forehead against the stack of books.
“Yep, you’re not allowed to ditch me.”
Sophia had the idea to enroll in law school once she found out I was running for town council, and I’d joined her. It would take us a bit longer since we couldn’t devote all our time to our studies, but it was the path we both wanted to take. After we saw everything in East Haven and how corrupt the mayor and council had become, we were both determined to have a handin stopping them. And since Sophia didn’t have the stomach for gutting her victims, she’d use the law as her own arsenal.
