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“You know she’s moved in with him,” he says with a smirk.
“You’re kidding,” I say with a laugh. “Why? No matter how messed up Brynne is, Ryan is a thousand times worse.”
“She said it’s just until she finds somewhere else, but I don’t care.” He lets out a laugh. “They deserve each other, if you ask me.” He shakes his head. “I’ll be happy if I never have to deal with either of them again.”
“I agree,” I admit. “But in a way, I’m glad everything happened the way it did.” I blush, realizing how insensitive that sounds. “I mean because I’ve ended up with you,” I add quickly.
“I know what you meant, Charlotte,” he chuckles. He pulls me closer, nibbling on my earlobe. “You never have to worry about any of that. For the first time in my life I think I can finally leave the past in the past.”
I smile, but feel a twinge of doubt. I hope he’s right. I hope he can move forward and leave the past behind him, but when something has consumed you for your whole life, I can’t imagine it being that easy to let go.
“I’m glad to hear it,” I mumble. As he wraps his arms around me, my heart races. I swallow, trying to ignore the sick feeling building in my stomach. It’s one thing for Jaxon to put this behind him, but what if Ryan refuses to do the same?
What if this whole mess is not over? What if it’s only just begun?
Epilogue
Charlotte
“Are you ready?” he asks me. I smile as he tilts my face up to meet his, my heart singing as he kisses me. “You’ll be amazing. I promise you that.”
I nod and take a deep breath, my hand resting on the door handle of Jaxon’s car. We sit outside the office of the New York Times, where I’m moments away from beginning my first day as a full-fledged journalist. He insisted on driving me to work for my first day. I agreed, but I’ve drawn the line at his dropping me off at the door.
I’m not about to have my boyfriend walk me to my office, no matter how influential he is.
After Ryan was arrested on murder conspiracy charges, I told Jaxon I wasn’t going to write his story. I’d gotten the only thing I cared about—him. It didn’t feel right to use that to my advantage.
Once the story broke of Ryan’s involvement in the murders of Jaxon’s family and Brynne’s disappearance, every media outlet in the world wanted a piece of him. He agreed to do a press conference, and what happened then changed my life. I watched as he stood up in front of all those cameras and announced he would be talking only to me. He also mentioned that as of that moment I was an uncontracted journalist looking for employment.
In one tiny moment my life went crazy. Suddenly I was inundated with job offers from newspapers I couldn’t have dreamed of ever working for. Everyone wanted me. I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t breathe.
After much deliberation, I accepted an offer from the New York Times to work as an investigative journalist on a five-year contract. My first story would be Jaxon’s.
“I don’t understand,” Jess said when I told her. “Why wouldn’t you take a job here, where all your friends and family are? Where Jaxon is,” she added, pausing for emphasis.
“Because if Jaxon and I are meant to be, then no matter where I am we’ll survive. He’s going to visit me every weekend until he sells his company, and then he’ll start fresh in New York.”
“He’s happy to do that?” she asked, not convinced.
“It was his idea. I think more than anything he wants a fresh start.” I shrugged. “And so do I.”
“Relax,” Jaxon whispers, kissing my cheek. “If you need anything, I’m here. Go get ’em, okay?”
“Okay.” I get out of the car and straighten my new black skirt. My hands shake as I walk inside the building. I make my way over to the elevator and up to the twenty-third floor.
What if I don’t belong here?
I shake my head, refusing to let my own self-doubt ruin this for me. I’m a hell of a journalist. Regardless of how I secured this job, I can do this. I will do this.
I was born to do this.
BY MISSY JOHNSON
Breaking Noah
Resist
The Proposition (coming soon)
