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Epilogue
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The account that Shannon described was eventually found but the bonus Jack promised her was also gone. The money trail went blank after that.
Donald Hess, AKA Jack Hewitt, was out of the picture, found dead on a runway of a small, private airport. There were no witnesses. In his wallet he only had a twenty-dollar bill and his fake identification. There were no other clues left on him. It was his fingerprints that properly identified who he was when they were sent through the database. If he hadn’t done a stint in juvie all those years ago his real identity may not have been fully confirmed.
Information about Jack from Shannon and Payton was very useful and was used to link him to the property frauds. The Castle family covered their tracks by implicating Jack in all their dealings with no trail going back to them. All of the Castle family members in jail were released on their projected dates.
Six months after everything went down, on a day with sun and no clouds, Payton and Dixon were married. A very pregnant Lilly stood as her maid of honor.
Ryan sat in the front row watching the two sisters. Payton was a completely different person with Dixon, one that he was proud to call his sister. He had grown to love her as much as Lilly; in return, she had shown them so much love and respect. Payton was going to be an amazing auntie.
Summer Rain was born to parents who could not be happier, and promised they would protect her from anything, like the Castle family, throughout her lifetime. They did not want her to ever have to go through anything they had just experienced. They decided to never tell her the true nature of her real father.
As the months passed, Shannon got to know Logan very well, as he tried to make up to her for what had happened.
He quit drinking cold turkey on that day. Each day the cravings were still there for Logan but he thought about it less and less, especially with Shannon’s help. She even went to a few AA meetings to show support. They were an unlikely pair, and somehow they complemented each other incredibly well.
Logan’s private investigation business began to grow to a size he could never have imagined. Shannon was there each step of the way. She ended up quitting her job a few months later to help Logan expand his growing empire.
Payton couldn’t have been happier to see her grow into the amazing businesswoman she had become. She and Payton stayed lifelong friends and helped each other mend mentally from their dealings with Jack.
It seemed likeit took almost a full year to get back into a normal routine. Payton lay on the warm summer beach of the Hamptons with her husband, Dixon, beside her. My husband, she squealed in her head. She still found it amazing that she was actually happily married. Somehow, everything ended up working out for her.
“What are you staring at?” Dixon lifted his head from his beach towel to gaze at his beautiful wife’s body. He couldn’t wait to get her back into the hotel room later.
“I love you,” Payton replied, with a smile that could not be broken, and reached over to give him a kiss.
Turning over to his back Dixon said, “We should look for a cute outfit for Summer at the flea market later,” while pulling his wife on top of him for a deeper kiss. Just the thought of kids had Dixon becoming hornier by the second.
She loved the way he had embraced her family as his own. Watching him love Summer as much as she did warmed her heart. Thinking back to one year ago, the day she thought she would never see the sun again, she was beyond thankful for everything she had. Summer was one lucky little girl to have a great support system. They were all relieved in knowing she would never experience the wrath of the Castle family…
The End
