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“Come here,” Wes says, taking the coffee from my hand and placing it on the shelf before pulling me toward him. He wraps his arms around me, and I cry. I haven’t cried much since everything happened, but it’s all coming to a head now.

“One day, your work is going to save the world,” Wes says. “But I’ll let you choose when that day comes.”

I cry into his embrace, and he soothes me.

He holds me until that feeling of being loved, of being worthy, of being enough for this world, sinks deep into my bones. He makes me believe it.

Then I push the box aside and kiss him.

He climbs onto the bed, and we fall back into it, our clothes coming off in seconds, our bodies tangled in the sheets.

He’s gentle and soft with me this morning as the sun streams through, lightly restraining me at times, whispering that I’m his pet, that I’m his forever, that he will always take care of me.

That his soul will always find mine.

I surrender to him like I always do.

I surrender to the moment.

I surrender to tomorrow.

I have no idea what the future will bring for us. I just know we have to keep moving forward, one foot in front of the other.

“The past is past,” as Wes always says. “We only have now and tomorrow.”

EPILOGUE

October 7,2027

VANCOUVER — Jury selection will begin Tuesday in the trial of former Madrona Foundation CEO Everly Johnstone, accused of capturing wild animals for use in illegal experiments regarding drug trials, a judge decided Friday.

However, on Friday, the judge will also consider a renewed request by her father, Brandon Johnstone, CEO of Madrona Pharmaceuticals, who is also named in the case, to dismiss the case completely, without a trial.

The case was brought forth by former employees Dr. Wes Kincaid, Sydney Kincaid, Dr. Janet Wu, and Dr. Gabriel Hernandez, who say they witnessed Everly Johnstone and her late husband, Michael Peterson, doing unethical and unsanctioned experiments on cougars, bears, deer, raccoons, and wolves in the surrounding land of the former Madrona Lodge Research Lab on northwest Vancouver Island, near and on Mquqin/Brooks Peninsula Park. The BC Provincial Government and the Quatsino First Nation are said to also be considering a separate trial for Johnstone should she be proven guilty.

“Ms. Johnstone wants to proceed to trial, wants to have her day in court,” Johnstone’s current defense attorney, Langdon Alder, told reporters outside court on Friday. “She’s been fairly adamant since the get-go that she wants to tell her side of the story and prove that this case is brought on by disgruntled ex-employees who couldn’t stand being let go. She is confident she has nothing to hide and finds the accusations disturbing and inaccurate.”

The Madrona Lodge was the site of the foundation’s research lab that burned down due to an electrical fire during a storm in June of 2025. That same fire resulted in the deaths of two employees, the aforementioned Michael Peterson, and the lodge’s manager, David Chen, as well as one of the visiting grad students, twenty-three-year-old Clayton Wade of Montana. Since then, the Madrona Foundation has said to continue with their research in a new location that has yet to be disclosed.

Two of the employees who were instrumental in the lawsuit, Dr. Wes Kincaid and his wife, Sydney Kincaid, who got married shortly after their careers with Madrona ended, are expected to appear as witnesses during the trial. Currently, they are sailing around the world on their boat,Mithrandir, stopping in at countries where Dr. Kincaid can work as a neurosurgeon for Doctors Without Borders.