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EPILOGUE

BLYTHE

FIVE YEARS LATER

I watch as my son slides across the ice, scoring a goal. Jumping up, I hold my stomach, where our fourth child is currently growing. Once I told Reed I was all in five years ago, he’s kept up his end of the bargain and keeps me well-loved and pregnant. I look over to where Reed and Wayne are playing with my four-year-old son, Aston, named after his Uncle Butcher, who saved us both that day he delayed Randall from dragging me away. My two-year-old son, Samuel, is also toddling along with his daddy.

Today is all about our fifteen-year-old son, Hartley. We officially adopted him as soon as the courts allowed us to. We’ve been raising him and his little brothers in a new house out of town, on the Shiver of Chaos compound. We sold Oliver’s and my foster parents’ homes, which they had left to me. With the money, we had our dream home built. Hartley is currently on the comp team, playing hockey with his friends Sebastian and Holdyn. Trevor’s family and ours are always together.

“Keep jumping around like that, and you’re going to pop that baby out.” Rika laughs as she helps me sit down.

I love my life in Eastport. All my friends and the club make it whole. I still write for the same magazine, but now I do it remotely, and I barely travel unless I have to. Briar and I still talk every other day. I was happy when her true identity was finally revealed, and she started being completely happy, like me.

Castor and I talk, but our relationship is still hard. Max passed in his sleep a few weeks after Reed and I tied the knot. I never went back to see him because the hurt and pain from his betrayal were too much. Randall’s father had revealed that Max didn’t know about me until after the attack, and he was attacked because he threatened to turn Randall over. Elliott was the one who had beat him. It was little consolation as I know that Max was seeing my mother before she left me. So, he knew about me, just not that I was his daughter.

Reed walks over to me, holding Samuel in his arms, while Wayne is holding Aston’s hand. My husband’s sexy body turns me on, and the pregnancy hormones are making it worse. I shift on the bench before a whistle on the ice has me turning to see what the ref is calling.

“I’ll take care of you when the boys are down for their nap, Bee,” Reed whispers in my ear, and I shiver from the dirty thoughts. He kisses my neck and whispers he loves me, and I turn to smile at him as I mouth the same words.