Page 84 of Vengeance of Childhood Proportions (Till Death Do Us Part #7)

Epilogue

Holly

Warm waves crashed over my feet, making the sand beneath me shift slightly. I took a deep breath in, basking in the heat of the setting sun.

I hadn’t seen snow for nearly six months.

After we left the motel where Hagley lay dead, we traveled for several hours before stopping again.

Jason drove while Master Mal held me in the backseat of the car.

There was so much that we had to discuss, but all I’d cared about in that moment was the fact that I was back in Master Mal’s arms.

He’d killed for me. The gesture, while extreme, meant more to me than I could express. I hadn’t needed proof of his love, but having it felt like a warm blanket on a cool night.

Before we left the motel, he pocketed my leather collar that he’d removed from my neck and declared that I wouldn’t be needing it anymore. Because he was putting a permanent one on me once we figured out what we were doing and where we were going.

The first night in our new house in Oahu, Hawaii, Master Mal had placed a black, metal Collar around my throat with textured feathers and a pearl broach with the silhouette of a black owl in the center.

It clasped in the back and there was no key to unlock it.

If someone wanted to remove it, they would have to cut it off me—and I’d kill them if they tried.

Master Mal sold his house in Alaska and resigned his job prior to the review that would have told him if he still had one.

Something that had been in the dossier that Jason had given me on Master Mal, but that I’d never taken notice of because it hadn’t mattered to me, was that Master Mal was rich.

Like, old oil money rich. Meaning he hadn’t had to work, but he wanted to because it was who he was.

He purchased land in Hawaii next to a small horse farm.

The land overlooked the ocean, and we even had a private beach.

Our house needed some construction, but we were able to still live in it while the contractors worked.

We knocked out a wall between two rooms, creating a large dungeon, added a dance pole, and removed the outer wall in our bedroom that faced the ocean, replacing it with tempered glass so I could always see outside.

Either Master Mal or Jason was always present when the men were in the house with me.

Getting Master Mal to accept Jason as a regular presence in his life took some, uh, patience on both their parts. And patience was not a virtue Jason naturally possessed.

The night Master Mal killed Hagley, he learned what happened to Roman Fitzwilliam and why his body was never discovered. At first, I feared Master Mal was regretting his decision to choose me over the law, especially when he saw the treatment Roman had received at Jason’s hand.

He’d just stared at Jason and asked, “Is he one of the ones who raped her?”

I stood frozen, but Master Mal’s grip on my waist did not lessen as Jason answered that Roman was one of my rapists.

Then Master Mal nodded. “I don’t want to see him, I don’t want to hear him. Keep him away from my little owl. Oh—and, Jason? Make his life a living hell.”

And other than the chartered plane ride Master Mal had hired to get us from the lower forty-eight to Oahu, we hadn’t seen or heard about Roman since.

The land Master Mal had purchased had two houses on it.

The large one was ours and a small cottage about two acres away was Jason’s.

Honestly, we saw our neighbor, a single cowboy who was native to Hawaii, more than we saw Jason.

That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing either.

Jason was off doing his own thing and visited when he chose.

As much as I loved and appreciated Jason, I wanted to build a life with Master Mal and put my past behind me.

Also, Jason had recently informed us that he’d taken on a new protégée, and Master Mal did not want me anywhere near him.

Eventually, Master Mal would look into starting a PI firm or doing something to occupy his time, but for now, we were working on rebuilding our trust and cherishing our new life together.

We kept tabs on Alaska through Master Mal’s family, who all thought he was having a midlife crisis for his abrupt move.

I was still trying to come up with ideas for what to do with Jason when they all came down to visit for Christmas.

Master Mal hadn’t told them yet about me, though when he did, he planned to make it sound like I was a local or another implant from the upper forty-eight.

The Atelihai Killer was still at large, but with no new bodies dropping, it would be declared a cold case soon and eventually nothing more than a local horror story.

Conspiracy theories abounded and someone had even dug up Holly Marteen’s grave—only for a body to be discovered inside!

I had no idea who the body belonged to and Jason hadn’t cared enough to remember, but it freaked me out when I learned that one.

Arms closed around me from behind. One of the great things about owning a private beach was the fact that we didn’t have to worry about bathing suits.

The only person around for miles was our cowboy neighbor, and we’d recently discovered he was a pornstar and had no issues with spying us nude while checking his fence lines.

“Come back to the house, Little Owl,” Master Mal murmured in my ear. “I have a surprise for you.”

I followed him obediently. Despite now knowing my name, he still referred to me as ‘Little Owl’ ninety-nine percent of the time.

It was the one percent when he called me ‘Holly’ that was truly special.

Generally, he was inside of me, whispering my name reverently into my ear.

Those were the times when I felt his love like no other.

Shortly after we moved to Hawaii, we spoke about my miscarriage as a teen and the additional despair it brought into my life.

We discussed children, and neither of us had a desire to be parents.

If it happened, it happened, but we would not try for a pregnancy.

I had offered to go on hormonal birth control, but Master Mal had rejected that. A day later, he got a vasectomy.

I spent the next two weeks pampering and caring for him—until I realized that the general recovery time for a vasectomy was only twenty-four hours and he was just milking my attention for all it was worth.

As an apology for being a naughty Dom, he took me out to a fancy restaurant where they offered fish pedicures during your meal and then the night ended with Master Mal giving me a happy-ending massage.

Our house smelled of the fresh flowers I’d gotten at the farmer’s market the day before. Who’d have thought a year ago I would be a regular at flea and farmer’s markets? Certainly not me.

Master Mal brought me over to the kitchen table where an already-opened white box was sitting. He handed me a note that also looked already read.

Mal,

I hope this finds you well. When I learned that this had been released from evidence and was up for auction, I got it for you. I had a feeling you’d want it.

Dr. Robinson

“Who’s Dr. Robinson, Sir?” I asked him, confused.

“Former co-worker. He was on the task force and worked on most of your, eh, art pieces,” he said with a boyish smile.

My cheeks reddened at the reminder that I’d once called myself an artist when he’d asked what I did for a living. I put the letter down on the handcrafted wood table. “What’s in the box, Sir?”

He pushed it towards me, and I stepped forward to look inside. I gasped when I saw it was my black owl mask. Master Mal must have already removed the protective packaging because it was just sitting on the Styrofoam peanuts.

I reached inside to take it out. “I can’t believe it. I thought I’d never see it again.”

He took it from my hands, indicating for me to turn around. I did, and he placed the feathered mask over my eyes, tying it behind my head. I was growing my hair out now and the brunette locks were just below my ears. Master Mal said he couldn’t wait until it was long enough to grip in his fist.

Once the mask was secure, I turned back around to face him. He placed his fingers under my chin, gazing down at me with such love and devotion that my blood instantly heated for him.

“I finally have everything I’ve ever wanted,” he said softly.

“Seeing your aquamarine eyes looking up at me from behind that mask is the single sexiest thing I’ve never seen in my life.

” Then he swatted my naked bottom. “Go get your scrunchies and meet me in the dungeon, position three. I need to fuck you, Little Owl.”

I smiled up at him before hurrying to obey. “It would be my pleasure, Sir.”