I got out, wanting to stretch my legs.

  Ezekiel frowned, but I waved him off. I headed his way. We could figure it out in person—I wanted to move. I was restless.

  As I walked to his car, a vehicle approached, a silver Lexus. Ezekiel got out to join me on the sidewalk, and behind me I heard, “Hey!”

  I turned and looked.

  Ezekiel moved in front of me, reaching for his gun.

  A man was hurrying across the road, the Lexus behind him. He’d left it in their driveway, half pulled in. The door was open. “Stop!” he yelled.

  Ezekiel stepped forward, but I caught his arm. He hadn’t gotten a good look at the guy.

  I had.

  It was my father.

  He got to the sidewalk, dressed as if he’d come from a business meeting or church—a buttoned-up black shirt. Silver tie. Black slacks.

  I moved back, but I didn’t want Ezekiel to guard me.

  “Put it away.” I motioned to his gun.

  He did but moved to stand beside me. He wasn’t blocking me anymore, but he was at my side, between my father and me.

  Gabriel looked at me hard, still a distance away, and nodded to himself. “I know you,” he called.

  Thirty yards was between us, but I heard him loud and clear.

  “I know who you are,” he repeated

  I shook my head. “Nah, man. I’m just talking to a friend here.” I motioned to Ezekiel.

  “She told me about you.” His eyes were burning now. “Told me I had a son. I knew it. I knew all this time. Told my wife. My daughter. They know about you, too.”

  I moved forward, standing to face him square.

  “You’re my son,” he said, his voice strong. “My son. I would’ve known you anywhere. You look like me. Got her color, but you’re me. I wanted you. Do you know that? I tried to get you, but he wouldn’t let me.”

  I stepped back and nearly staggered.

  “What?”

  “I tried. Over and over again. I wanted my son, but he’s big. He’s powerful. He’s dangerous. And he threatened me. Anthony. Her husband. Don’t know why he didn’t just kill me. I expected it. I knew who he was, what he did. He killed her instead. He told me he’d kill someone I loved, and she was dead a month later.”

  I’d been so little. I remembered her funeral, remembered not holding her hand anymore.

  He raised his chin, defiant. “I got word from your aunt, who told me what he did. She told me you were loved, that he wasn’t hurting you. She also told me to stop trying to get you, said he’d likely kill you before he let you go.” He shook his head, lowering it. “I never knew if I did the right thing by backing off or not. I met Cierra around then, but I never stopped wondering.” He looked back up, lifting his chin again. “But you’re here. You came to me. Is he dead?”

  I nodded. Damn.

  I’d been raw when Kai told me about Carson. I was shattered when Melissa died, but this was different. This was a whole other emotion, and I had no idea what it was.

  “He’s dead.”

  “Good. Good. He deserves to be dead. That’s good.” His eyes were fierce. “You are my son. I love you, always did. I wanted you then. I want you now.”

  I started to shake my head, but stopped. I had no idea how to process this shit. None of it.

  “I wasn’t going to talk to you,” I told him. “I wasn’t—I wanted to see you. That’s all.”

  He took a step forward.

  I backed up.

  Ezekiel started to move between us, reaching for his gun.

  I grabbed his arm. “No.”

  But Gabriel stopped, eyeing Ezekiel.

  I stepped in front of Ezekiel. “He’s my guard.” I looked back, and a few of the other guards had stepped out of their vehicles. There were a few others on the sidewalk behind us, some on the other side of the street.

  Gabriel was looking, too. “I see that.”

  “We still do what he did. We do it. My brother runs the family now.”

  He nodded. “Kai. I saw the news, saw years back they were looking for your sister. I hoped everything was okay.”

  He did?

  I nodded, my head swimming—all the facts, everything he knew. I hadn’t known. I hadn’t been prepared. “Brooke is fine. We’re all fine.”

  “I have alerts set up for all of you. I know your names. It was just a blip of news, and then it went away. I figured that’s ’cause of what your family does.” He cracked a grin. “Seeing them now makes me feel a way… They answer to you, right? It’s not the other way—you being captive or anything? They’re protecting you, not, you know…”

  I nodded, letting go of Ezekiel’s arm. I’d forgotten I was holding it, keeping him from pulling a gun on my father.

  My father.

  I’d thought of him that way, but seeing him in front of me, hearing him call me his son...

  It was a lot. It was all just a lot.

  “They’re protecting me,” I told him.

  “Good. That’s good.” His eyes softened again, and he raised that chin up. “But I know you. I wanted you to know that.”

  “Yeah,” I managed. “Listen—”

  He shook his head. “Nope. You don’t got to say what you’re going to say.” He held a hand up. “I know what you’re going to say. What you do, what your family does, it’s dangerous. Am I right? That’s the only reason why I can think my son would seek me out, be across the street from my home, but not plan to talk to me. Because it’s dangerous to know you? Is that what you were going to say?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  “I don’t care—not about that. I’m a Black man in this society. There are things I’m scared about, but knowing my son? That’s not it. That’ll never be it. I love you. I want you. You hearing me on that?”

  I moved my head up and down again.

  I couldn’t speak.

  My chest was full.

  My stomach was full.

  My head was full.

  I had no idea what to do.

  “I really want you to come in and meet your sister. Meet your cousins. Meet my wife. She’s a good woman. I want you to meet your aunt and your uncles. And be prepared, some of your uncles might scare you, but they’ll love you. They don’t know about you, just my wife and your sister, but they will all welcome you. You’re family. My son. I’m proud to finally meet you.” His face was wet with tears now. “If you don’t want to walk to the house, come inside, and meet people who already love you, that’s fine. But know this, we do love you. We do want you. You are always welcome. Always.”

  A door opened in the distance.

  “Dad?”

  I stepped back, knowing who that could be.

  Gabriel rolled his shoulders back. He shot me a look. “Right.”

  He went up the driveway. He said something, making it sound like a joke. I didn’t know. I heard her laugh, heard the relief, and then he was back in his car and parking it in a better spot.

  I stepped back, feeling like the world had just exploded.

  My sister was at the door, waiting for her dad.

  Gabriel parked, got out, locked his car, and went to her. He held the door as she went inside, and looked one last time at me.

  He stood there a moment, staring at me.

  I stood there, staring back.

  “Dad?” Even from outside, I heard her call for him.

  Still he stood there, staring at me.

  He wasn’t going to go back inside, not until I moved.

  I had to make the decision. He was waiting on me.

  Goddamn.

  Tears fell down my face. I knew it. I couldn’t stop them. I didn’t want to stop them.

  I’d grown up with a man I knew was never my father. I grew up feeling different from my family—a part of them, but apart from them. Now my father was waiting for me, letting me decide. I blinked so many times, trying to stop the tears.

  There was no way to prepare for this.

  I hadn’t told him I was a doctor.

  I wanted to tell him I was a doctor.

  “Go, man.” Ezekiel nodded toward the house.

  “Go.”

  I started, but then stopped.

  My sister came back to the door. She stepped in front of him, looking where he was looking. She frowned, paused, and then recognition hit her. Her eyes bulged, and her mouth dropped open. She gasped, a slight scream. She pressed her hand to her mouth, but it was done. It was over.

  I started moving toward them as she ran down the stairs to me.

  Epilogue

  CARSON

  I’d be lying if I told you everything was happily ever after. It wasn’t. I went to counseling and opened up about what happened. The whole almost-being-killed thing had given me some trauma.

  I was dealing now.

  Eventually things got better.

  I could sleep. The nightmares lessened, and when they did come, Jonah was there. That helped tremendously.

  There was a lot of running. I excelled at the half marathon—but nothing longer than that. No thank you. I wasn’t nuts. I was good. Good to go!

  Also, Jonah and I worked hard at our relationship.

  It wasn’t easy to come together, but we loved each other.

  He was getting to know himself more fully, meeting a whole different part of his family. Eventually his other family met that family, and I was there.

  I was at Jonah’s side the entire way, like he had been for me.

  I also laid everything out for my parents and sister. I told my family about Jonah and his family’s business. That wasn’t smooth sailing. My sister was happy that I was happy, but she was understandably hesitant about the mafia world.

  My parents were not happy because of the mafia world.

  There was no hesitancy on their end.

  If I chose Jonah, I wouldn’t be choosing them. They were clear on that, but I had already tried not being with Jonah. I knew that didn’t work.

  So I chose Jonah. I choose to be happy.

  My parents decided to disengage from me.

  My sister was angry with them, but I understood. They were worried about her, too, that Jonah’s family would be a danger to her. I really did get it.

  It hurt, but it made sense. Either way, I couldn’t go forward without Jonah. I knew by now that wherever I went in the future, he’d be there. That was the best option for me.

  I loved him.

  I couldn’t stop, no matter the hardships.

  * * * *

  We got married in the woods, with a woodland-fairytale theme.

  I. Loved. It.

  We had butterflies in the trees. Fireflies at night. I used moss for decoration. The trees had tiny, tiny doors on them to make it look like gnomes lived there. It was everything and more—my dream wedding.

  I wore a wildflower crown on my head.

  My bridesmaids were my sister, Brooke, and Angel.

  Jonah had Tanner, Kai, and Ezekiel as his groomsmen.

  The flower girls were all of Jonah’s nieces, because he had a lot by now.

  Riley, Kai’s wife, was in the front bench. She was amazing. There were a whole bunch of people next to her, but I didn’t know who they were. Jonah told me they were hush-hush because of what they did. I didn’t know what that meant, given that the Bennett family was also hush-hush, but by this point, I just went with it.

  His father walked both of us down the aisle, and Jonah’s stepmom cried the whole time.

  Tanner made an awkward speech, which I was expecting. He talked about a lock room, about kidnapping people. One of Jonah’s uncles on his dad’s side, who Jonah didn’t know that well, made the second speech. It was way better than Tanner’s, but I’d never admit that to Tanner—who was, by the way, an awkward friend to me.

  Yeah. I had no idea how that happened either.

  Jonah was still a surgeon, and I had gone back to being a forensic technician. Though I knew I probably wouldn’t be content with that. I’d been considering going to school for the whole shebang next fall: a forensic scientist.

  Oh yeah. I’d be calling the shots. I knew I could do it.

  But I hadn’t done it yet. Because that took balls. All my balls had been taken up by marrying Jonah. Bad metaphor, but I loved him. I was almost obsessed with him. I worshipped him.

  Just kidding.

  I’m making it weird. It’s not actually like that.

  I love my guy. He loves me.

  We’ll figure it out, and we have time.

  All I know is I’m hella fucking happy, and so is he.

  * * * *

  Much later

  “Babe!”

  From upstairs I heard Jonah’s yell, and then the doorbell rang right after. That likely meant Angel was here.

  I finished wrapping our precious little Gabriella Brooke in a blanket. When she was snug as a bug—and yes, I chanted this in my head as I did it—I lifted her to my shoulder. She was tired, already nuzzling into me. I could’ve laid her back down in the crib, turned on the sound machine and the monitor, and she’d go right to sleep. She was perfect like that. I assumed those were Jonah’s genes, because no way did she get that from me.

  But I didn’t. I couldn’t resist. I took her with me.

  Because Jonah’s surgery had gone late, I’d thought we might not do our date, but he was firm. When he’d arrived, I was in sweats, with a pizza on the way and my show picked out on Netflix.

  He’d taken one look at me and said, “Nope.”

  I should have expected it. He’d promised a date, and he wanted them more than I did. He’d read a manual during our premarital counseling that said always keep it fresh, always keep it new, always keep it fun.

  Regular dates were his solution.

  Planning for regular sex wasn’t needed. We were just fiiiine in that department. I was a little sore from the position he’d put me in last night. Jonah got fucking experimental at times, emphasis on the fucking part.

  Moving down the stairs, cradling Gabby in my arms, I could hear Jonah and his sister talking.

  Angel had moved to Minnesota. She got a job here, but I suspected she’d come at least partially because this was where her big brother was. Lord knows, I didn’t blame her. She idolized Jonah, and a weird sort of relationship had developed between her and Tanner.

  I guess that was Tanner. I had a weird friendship with him too.

  We’d grown to the point that I was his sister, but when the two parts of Jonah’s family started to merge more, Tanner and Angel had become each other’s shadows. I thought it was sweet, in a fierce sort of way—the fierceness coming from Tanner. I knew Jonah’s dad had his concerns, but Angel didn’t listen. Well, she did, and then did what she wanted anyway.

  She and Jonah were similar in that way.

  They also both adored Gabby.

  And as soon as I came into the living room, Angel headed for us, her hands out.

  She gave me a brief smile in greeting but zoomed in on Gabby and soon had her cradled in her arms. She stepped back, giving me a softer smile before cooing at her little goddaughter who was just as obsessed with her aunt.

  “Heya, Carson,” she said once the baby was situated.

  “Hi, Angel.” I moved in to kiss her cheek.

  Another soft smile was my reward. Jonah’s younger sister was a little shy at times too, at least with me.

  “Babe!”

  Jonah stood at the door, waving his phone around. “I gave her the update. It’s all good. We gotta go or we’re going to be late.”

  I frowned. “Late for what? You made reservations or something?”

  He flashed me a grin. “Or something.”

  I sighed. That grin was the perfect mix of cocky and happy. My man was happy. And my heart did a little pitter patter in my chest because that made me happy too.

  I know the saying is that you get a honeymoon phase—two years. Not me. Not us. I was in love with my man as much as the first day I met him, and it only grew deeper as the days went by.

  Jonah was out the door now, moving toward where he’d parked in the driveway.

  Angel gave me a gentle nudge. “Go on. He’s excited.”

  I eyed her, smiling. “You know what it is, don’t you?”

  Her eyes twinkled. “I know enough to know my brother cannot wait for this date tonight. Go. Have fun. I got this.”

  I took a moment to really look at Angel. She’d grown up since I first met her, and she was a stunningly beautiful woman. All of Jonah’s family members on her side were great—his father, his stepmother, who would be so pissed I was adding the step- part. As far as she was concerned, she was Jonah’s mother, and in a way, she’d adopted Tanner and Brooke as well. Not Kai, but the rest most certainly. Jonah was lucky to have all facets of his family, but there was something special about Angel.

  My throat filled with emotion suddenly. “I know Jonah loves you, and Tanner does, but so do I.” I wanted her to know that. It was important to me, and when I felt it extra, I shared it extra. Angel knew this already, and she moved in, giving me a hug.

  I looked down. Gabby was watching us, a smile pushing up those cheeks of hers.

  I was pretty sure she was filling her diaper.

  “I love you, too,” Angel said. “Now…” She turned, her hip checking mine. “Get going. My brother’s going to lay on the horn in a second, and none of us wants that.”

  Oh God. He would. “I have to go.”

  Angel laughed as I hurried outside, grabbing my purse and phone on the way.

  Jonah was antsy, his fingers drumming a beat on the steering wheel when I got in. “You good?” he asked with a nod.

  I frowned as I shut the door and grabbed for my seatbelt. “I was good with Netflix and chilling tonight. Think I should be asking you that question.”

  He froze, and then consciously relaxed himself. His head gave a little shake, and his shoulders loosened up. He dropped his hand from the top of the steering wheel and gave me a soft smile, similar to the one I’d gotten from his sister inside. “Hi.”

  Gah. The melting. It was happening again.

  I smiled back. “Hi.”