Page 29

LARK

A lessandro and I were married the following July at the compound on Great Sacandaga Lake. Never in my life had I dreamed my mother would be celebrating with me if I ever found someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I knew he felt the same way.

We would’ve held the ceremony somewhere else sooner, but decided to wait. Given the compound had been transformed to more of a commune—as Alessandro and I referred to it—we waited until the rehabbed gardens were in full bloom and the main house and smaller camps had been renovated.

The other reason we waited was the significance of the day we chose to become man and wife—the fourth of July, Independence Day. It represented freedom for all of us. From fear, danger, having to live in hiding, looking over our shoulders for potential threats, and feeling as though any given day might be our last.

The compound’s transformation was mirrored in the faces of all those who made it their home—Gram, my mom, Amelia, Chiara, Alessandro, and me. Gone were the tight faces and furrowed brows caused by secrets and fear. In their place were smiles, loads of laughter, and an overall sense of peace.

Alessandro and I had chosen one of the smaller camps for ourselves since we only planned to be there for visits. The rest of the year, we lived in a house we’d purchased in Saratoga Springs, where Chiara and I’d opened the new location of a Perfect Fit Coffee & Tea shop.

Gram was the one to decide we should close the one in Gloversville, saying it was time we left the past behind and focused on the future.

“How are you feeling, cuore mio ?” my husband asked, joining me on the porch of our two-bedroom camp that sat closest to the lake on the compound we’d collectively named Loon’s Call.

He rested his hand on my stomach, where our baby grew. He or she would be born into a world so different from the one we’d known. They’d be surrounded by a large and loving family, which included people like Pershing and Alice, Grit, Tank, and the rest of the K19 team. We saw them often, given Canada Lake was only thirty miles away.

Shortly after Amelia visited Vincent at the correctional center in Manhattan, he’d agreed to a plea deal that would end his trial and take a potential death sentence off the table. In exchange, he worked with the DOJ in their fight against organized crime.

Nothing he did now would mitigate the horrific things he’d done throughout his life, bring back the people who’d been murdered by his command, or change any of the past.

But the legacy of what the Castellano name meant had evolved into something different and would continue to do so with each new generation.

As Gram had said, there was no future in our past. Those were words we all chose to live by.

______________

Keep reading for a sneak peek at the next book in

Heather Slade’s K19 Sentinel Cyber series,

Code Name: Grit

He dedicated his life to exposing corruption.

She spent her life in hiding, protected by secrets.

Neither expected their investigation of another notorious crime family to lead to

an attraction that could destroy them both.

—GRIT—

I've spent my career taking down corrupt organizations, but protecting Chiara Castellano is testing every ounce of my control. She might be Alessandro's sister, but she's nothing like the hardened criminals I'm used to dealing with. She's brilliant, beautiful, and determined to help bring down the Belcastro family—even if it means putting herself in danger. My job is to keep her safe, not fantasize about crossing every professional line I've ever drawn. But in the shadows of a Manhattan safe house, with a hit squad closing in, those lines are starting to blur...

—CHIARA—

Everyone thinks they know who I am—the sheltered Castellano sister, raised in hiding, too innocent to understand the dangerous world I was born into. But they're wrong. I know exactly what I want, and right now that's helping Grit investigate the family threatening everything we've built. He thinks he needs to protect me, but I've spent my whole life being protected. What I need is for him to see me as more than just another person to guard. When we end up trapped together, all those careful barriers he's built start to crumble. Now I just have to convince him that some risks are worth taking.