“I never thought I’d get this,” I confessed into her hair.
“Get what?”
“This.You.A life that doesn’t bleed every time I breathe.”
She snuggled closer.“You earned it.”
“No,” I mused, kissing her again.“You gave it to me.”
The kitten peeked back out from the bush.
Neve slipped from my arms long enough to crouch down and coax him forward again.This time, he didn’t run when I stepped beside her.
She glanced up at me.
“He likes you.”
“Of course he does,” I deadpanned.“I’m the one feeding him.”
She shook her head with a laugh that cracked something warm open in my chest.
I wasn’t a good man.I never claimed to be.But when she threaded her fingers through mine… I wanted to be.For her.Only for her.
“Come inside,” I told her softly.“Dinner is ready.”
“Did you cook?”
“Don’t insult me.I had it prepared.”
She laughed again—that sound I’d kill and die for.We walked back toward the villa, hand in hand.And for the first time, the future felt certain.Not perfect or easy.But ours.
Beautifully ruined.Just like us.
58
Epilogue 2 - Neve
The villa was quiet—it was early enough that the sky was still blue-black and the garden lights glowed like trapped fireflies beneath the trees.The world felt softened, gentled, the way it only did right before dawn.
I walked barefoot across the marble floor, carrying a mug of chamomile tea, the hem of my cotton robe brushing my calves.The air smelled like orange blossoms and salt from the distant sea.
Our home.
Our life.
If someone had told the girl who fled down an alley with bullets singing behind her that she would live here—safe, warm, loved—she would have laughed.
Or cried.
Or both.
The sliding glass door was cracked open slightly, letting in the cool breeze, and I already knew he was out there.Atlas was a creature of habit.Some of those habits were terrifying.Some were beautiful.
Some were mine.
I stepped out onto the terrace.
He was sitting on the stone railing, broad shoulders hunched slightly, elbows resting on his knees, staring at the sunrise like he was deciding whether to let the day come or chase it away.