Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
My eyes are somehow dry as I look at him, touching his face. A bandage is wrapped around his head, and I can see where they shaved his hair on one side to do what they could after his fall.
“Hey big brother.” I sit down, take his hand. “I’m going to miss you. I’d rather have you like this than not at all, but it’s no good for you.” My vision blurs. “I know that. And I hope you’ll forgive me for my selfishness, but I couldn’t let you go sooner. I couldn’t keep my promise until now. I love you, Seth. And I will make sure your son knows you. I swear it.”
Vivi puts a hand on my shoulder.
I wipe my face and stand up. “Do you…”
“I said goodbye before you got here. It’s time, Cassian. Time we set him free.”
I nod.
The medical team enter and Vivi and I each take one of Seth’s hands and I don’t try to stop the tears as I watch them slowly, one by one, unplug the machines keeping my brother alive. I watch him as, slowly, his chest stops moving, his breaths in this life finished. I watch him and I think maybe, just maybe, I know the moment his soul is free because it’s that moment that, out of this wretched, gray world, the sun shines into that hospital room. In that split second that a ray of light falls on my brother’s beautiful, peaceful face.
Time of death is recorded. Allegra is at my side, her hand wrapped protectively around mine. We walk out of that room.
“I have something to tell you,” Vivi says once we’re outside. For a moment, dread fills my stomach. She’s young. She’s going to move on. I know that. I saw she’d taken his ring off her finger.
I prepare myself.
“Gage tested negative.”
I’m confused. That’s not what I’m expecting. “What?”
She smiles and on this day of days, I see true happiness beside all the loss that has shadowed her eyes. “He doesn’t have the gene, Cassian. What happened to Seth won’t happen to him. It won’t happen to his children or to their children.” She laughs and cries at once as she throws herself into my arms for a tight hug. “He’s going to be all right. We’re going to be all right.”
She draws back and I am so happy and so sad at once. It’s the strangest feeling.
“We can start to live a normal life now. Finally. We can start to live.”
EPILOGUE 1
CASSIAN
The Wedding
The wedding takes place at the edge of the property on Devil’s Peak. It’s a beautiful spring evening, dusk settling in after a clear, sunny day. It’s a small ceremony. Severin shows up, which is surprising, especially considering he wasn’t invited. Jet is my best man. Amal is Allegra’s maid of honor.
Jet and I stand beneath the pergola erected for our altar. The priest from the local church in town will perform the ceremony. Candles surround us and line the path to guide Allegra to me.
Now, as the sun takes its final bow of the day, Amal appears on the path. She’s dressed in a black floor length gown and is holding a single white rose. She’s stunning with her long dark hair and ice blue eyes. She just celebrated her eighteenth birthday, Jet advised me.
I shift my gaze to Jet as she begins to walk down the aisle toward us. I watch how he never once takes his eyes off her and she, in turn, looks directly at him with a confidence I wouldn’t expect of someone as young as her.
Although, with a father like Malek Lombardi, what do I expect?
Amal smiles at me briefly as she takes her place, giving Jet a long look before Allegra appears. The instant I see her, my heart skips a beat, my breath catching somewhere in my throat.
She is utter perfection in her long, silvery gown that could be made of moonlight. Her hair is loose down her back and in her hands is a single rose so red it appears black. Her lips match the blood red, so fitting my violent mafia queen, the scar on her face still angry, a mark of her resilience, her unending well of strength.
Music begins. A recording of her mother playing her favorite piece. It’s dark and haunting and completely inappropriate for a wedding
I close my eyes momentarily before opening them to meet hers. Her whiskey eyes are lined heavily in black. She is stunning, my bride. She is perfection in her imperfection, and I love her so much my body aches at the sight of her approaching, coming to me as the piano plays around the edges of our world, our violent, unforgiving world.
When she takes her final steps, I see how her eyes have filled with tears and when I take her hands, when I finally take her hands, a single tear falls, sliding down her cheek, leaving a black mascara trail. It fits my beautiful bride.