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He hung his head until his face was all shadow. “I love you. God help me, but I do.” His stare returned to me. There was no more anger; he had nothing to fight now that his secret was out. “I’m in love and I don’t want to give that up. Not for anyone.”

“Then don’t,” I said, smiling through my sobs. “I love you, too. I love you so much and I don’t care what anyone thinks about that.”

“Not even me?” Shoes crunched nearby. My uncle loomed over us where we huddled, his mustache hiding only some of his frown. I was sure he’d overheard everything. The distress in his eyes was scalding. “You’d really break your word?” he asked Costello. “I shook your damn hand. Guess that meant nothing.”

They shook hands?I couldn’t imagine that. Costello was frozen, but I felt the energy that burned in his core. He reluctantly let me go so he could stand toe to toe with my uncle. “I know what I agreed to. But I can’t do it. Scotch is too important to me. She means more than the most unbreakable promise I could ever commit to.”

The detective was a wall of rocks. I expected him to crumble on top of me and Costello, leaving us and our love in pieces. His knuckles glinted whiter than the snow around us.

He breathed in, he waited, and I waited with him. “Your whole family is a pack of liars. Don’t know why I expected any different from you.”

It was the most deflated insult I’d heard from his lips.

Uncle Jimmy turned away, storming toward the police and shouting orders. I was stunned. Could it really be that simple?No. It wasn’t simple at all.He’d hated the Badds for ... well, forever. The disgust ran through his veins. For him to walk away from Costello and me, accepting our love, he had to truly believe in us.

Costello had proven his heart wasn’t stained.

Smiling in wonder, I whispered, “He finally realized what I already knew.”

“And what’s that?”

Casting a sly look up at Costello, I wove my fingers with his. I never wanted to let go of his hand. Not for a second. “That you’re a hero.”

His eyes strained with how big they got. I’d never witnessed him so shocked.

“Oh my gosh,” I said. “Are youblushing?”

“Of course not!”

“You are!” Sweeping me up in his arms, Costello marched me toward the cars. “Hey! What are you doing?” I squealed.

He kissed me deeply and said into my ear, “Makingyoublush.”

I promptly did, but I also snuggled into his chest. This was safe and warm, and I’d endure the humiliation of multiple officers gawking at me. For Costello Badd, I think I would have endured anything.

His arms wove tighter around me, then set me in the passenger seat of his car; he’d parked it out of view of the warehouse, behind a small hill. It wasn’t until we were alone, his hands on the wheel and the tires rolling over the asphalt, that he spoke again. “What you said earlier, it meant more to me than you could know.”

“What did I say?”

I could only see his right side, one perfect blue eye as round as the moon, his scar a mountain range from high above. It made me feel so very far away.

“You called me a hero. And for the first time in my life ... I believed it.”

- EPILOGUE -

COSTELLO

I checked my phone again. My thumb caressed the edge impatiently.

“Hey,” Thorne said behind me.

I’d been sitting among the gardens in our backyard. Many of the roses were sequestered in the greenhouse, but somehow a few white ones were still blooming along the fence. Glancing over my shoulder, I faced him. “Are they all here?”

“Yeah. Every single one of the bastards, it looks like.” His smile didn’t have the usual strength to it. Eyeing me, he let it fall away entirely. “Listen, about what happened.”

“You were just doing what you had to.”

“I should have told you where she was. Fuck, since when do I care about being such a good little son?” he asked, shaking his head.