Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
I pretend to sip my drink while I process this very not-Cassian question. “Yeah. I do.”
“She feels the same?”
“She does.”
“Well, it’s a good start then, isn’t it?”
I study him, my stepbrother, one of the two men who know me best. “Yeah, it is.”
“That’s settled then. Allegra wants a ceremony she will witness. You’ll do it. You’ll agree to whatever they want.”
“Allegra already mentioned that and I figured that much already,” I say, and he chuckles. Allegra first told me off, then told me we’d be having a proper wedding she would arrange. I agreed because I saw Amal’s face at the mention of it. I know she wants her family to witness it and honestly, I’d have suggested it myself if Allegra hadn’t. Back in Edinburgh, I surprised Amal with my proposal and impromptu, some might say forced, wedding. I really would like to do it right. Give her a proper ceremony. Create the memory. Because she will only get married once.
“How’s your brother?” Cassian asks.
“Good. Back to business.”
After we left the island, Sev delivered the same footage Senna had sent him showing the murder of one of The Society men involved with my grandfather to the New York chapter of The Society. He suggested a mutually beneficial binding agreement to leave each other the fuck alone.
The New York chapter will oversee the investigation into the fire on the Isle of Elysium. It was a terrible tragedy that killed so many. But lighting so many candles with all that wood and those old tapestries, well, it was asking for trouble.
“He surprised me out there,” Cassian says.
“Sev’s always tried to protect me. I see it now. I see how far he went to do that.”
“We’re all trying to clean up messes we had no hand in creating. Amal going to be okay?”
“I think so. She’s strong.”
“Yeah, she is.”
“And a hell of a shot. I’m going to get her her own gun for a wedding present. Custom.”
“Weird,” Cassian says, and chuckles.
“Noticed Allegra wasn’t drinking wine at dinner,” I say, eyebrows raised.
Cassian smiles proudly. “What can I say?”
“You want another boy or a girl?”
“First, I want a football team. Then, a little princess or three. So all their brothers can look out for them. Although if they’re anything like my wife, they’ll be the ones doing the looking out.”
“We’ve married some strong women.”
On cue, there’s a knock on the door. “You guys coming? Frozen custard won’t be frozen pretty soon,” Allegra calls out.
“Coming,” Cassian says and we stand.
“Pretty decent life we have.”
“Can’t complain.” We swallow the last of our whiskeys and head to the door.
“Don’t mention the pregnancy yet,” Cassian tells me. “I’m sure she’s told Amal, but she’s nervous with the ones we lost so just wait.”
“No problem, brother.”
“Thank you, brother.”
EPILOGUE
AMAL
Three Months Later
All those months away, I didn’t realize how much I missed Daniel and Allegra until I hugged them. Even though I spoke with my brother weekly, I found myself holding him so tight, so grateful for him. Grateful for both of them.
Allegra is putting the last of the baby’s breath in my hair which she styled in a wild up do with curls cascading down over my shoulders haphazardly. It looks like it’s just swept up, but I have about a pound of hairspray holding it together. She then secures the feather light veil to the back using more bobby pins than I can count.
I dot pink lip gloss on. I threw out all my reds because I can’t stand anything red anymore, and we step back to look at my reflection in the full-length mirror.
“Wow,” Allegra says. “You look just like your mom.”
I’m dressed in an elegant white dress with a short train and a veil that touches the floor. It’s my something new. My shoes are borrowed from Allegra, a pair of satin pumps from an Italian designer. The blue is a ribbon my mom had saved from a present she’d received when Daniel was born. It’s wrapped around my wrist like a bracelet. My something old is a pair of pearl earrings Malek had given my mother on the day of their wedding.
My mother was a very beautiful woman. Her beauty was her best quality according to Malek, and he enjoyed showing her off and showing off to her with expensive presents. He treated her like a very expensive piece of art, and I guess she took it in place of love to save herself. Or maybe to protect me.
Ever since I found the diary and learned the truth about myself, I’ve wondered about Malek marrying my mother. She’d have been two months pregnant with me. She’d always told me I was premature. She could have concealed the pregnancy from him.
This is where things get a little tricky. I hate Malek for what he did to Allegra. To her family. But he never hurt me or Daniel. Yes, he was ready to marry me off to a man old enough to be my father for his own gain but if he’d known I wasn’t his, surely, he’d have treated me worse, wouldn’t he?