Page 247 of Soul So Dark

“Yes,” I reply, lifting my chin and trying to sound as confident as ever.

Then he exits the driver’s side and I try to calm my nerves as he rounds the bumper. I need to get a grip. I could walk right up to Bowen less than an hour ago, even after what he did, because I have absolutely no respect for him. But this…

Alex opens my door and helps me step out of the truck with the box cradled securely in my arm. Then he cups the sides of my face and kisses me on the forehead before taking my hand and leading me up to the front door. There’s no more time to dwell on it, because just as I step up to the porch, the door opens.

“Alexí!” a bright, vibrant voice calls from the doorway.

The house behind her is abuzz with activity, punctuated by shouts and laughter. She’s the exact same height as me, with glimmering russet eyes and deep burgundy lips framed by shiny obsidian hair. And after holding Alex in a tight embrace while simultaneously chiding him for not sending her squirrel-proof birdfeeders, she turns to me with outstretched hands, inviting me to come closer.

I step forward and carefully offer her the box with a smile I can only hope is half as radiant as hers.

“Buenas noches, mucho gusto conocerla, Abuelita…”

EPILOGUE

Aiden

The burned-out Lexus sits about 50 feet away from the stone steps, just another skeleton in the graveyard of my past. It looks so nice on the lawn, framed on both sides by Victorian urns I never bothered to refill with anything living.

This house has been dead for years anyway. I imagine the car will stay there for quite some time, a monument to this new chapter of my life.

Ofourlife.

How poetic.

Tipping my glass, I empty the rest of the scotch into my mouth, savoring the burn as it flows down my throat. I’m finally getting a buzz, which means I have to stop because there’s nothing that I hate more than not being in absolute control of my mental faculties.

Shewould say I have control issues, just like she’ll say I’m holding her captive in this house. But she’s biased. Her opinion of me is based on an incomplete story that I’ve allowed her to carry around like a security blanket since she left here all those years ago. But that’s about to change. She likes stories, and I wonder if she’ll like the one that I’ve been holding onto just for her.

Our reunion was nothing unexpected, full of hellfire and brimstone that could rival Mount Vesuvius. I half expected to end up with a knife in me like last time. It’s been an exciting 48 hours.

She thinks I’m a monster, a horror with no soul and a heart made of granite and ash, smoldering like that car out there on the lawn. And she’s not wrong. I should be in prison. She could’ve put me there a long time ago with just one word, but she didn’t. And that was her mistake. But contrary to popular belief, I can compromise. I’m prepared to move on, but not before she pays for what she did.

Because I don’t forgive. And I don’t forget.

I’ll leave her alone tonight only because I have an engagement with two people who have proven to be just as cold-blooded as me.

Turning from the window, I meander across the marble floor as the fading sunlight bursts through the glass, painting the room gold. It’s my favorite time of day—when everything looks like it’s on fire.

Taking a seat in the middle of the oversized sofa, I grab my controller and headset from the table and scan the names along the side of the flat screen mounted above the mantle. The fireplace is empty now, but by the end of this endeavor, who knows?

The corner of my mouth curls when I see their handles show up as active.Obi GYN KenobiandAmerican Ass Eater.What a pair. I don’t have to wait long, though. Alex sees my handle first—SistaFista.

“You never know when to quit,” Alex taunts. “Ready to get destroyed again?”

He doesn’t know the half of it. I’m a masochist, a glutton for punishment, because I can take it just as well as I can dole it out.

“I actually have a question for your woman.”

“What kind of question?” Dallas’s cloying voice cuts in.

“What if I told you that I have a way to not only bring down our boy, Bo, but his entire family, including our friends at the Canaan Police Department?”

There’s a pause, confirming my offer is having its desired effect.

“What have you got, Aiden?” she finally replies.

“I have a belated wedding present for you.”

“Our wedding was over a year ago.”

“Fine,” I shrug to myself, “it's not so much a present as—"

A door slams upstairs with a resounding echo, eliciting a smile from me as a surge of blood rushes to my groin.

“A secret weapon.”

THE END