Page 121 of Victorious: Part 3

Around us, our chosen family continues their partying, the club girls have started cleaning up, and turning off unnecessary lights.

Soon, Phoenix and I will head off to our room, to our bed, to our life together. But for now, I’m content to sit here in the gentle chaos of the clubhouse, Dracula warm and heavy across our legs, Phoenix solid and real beside me.

New beginnings.

That’s what tonight is about.

South and Ingrid are beginning their new chapter in New Orleans. The Martinez brothers begin their journey toward brotherhood. Ink and Cassandra are beginning whatever they’re building together. Sadie begins her mission to help rescued bird children. Alpha and Haven are thinking about beginning their married life,finally.

And Phoenix and me? We are beginning every day of the rest of our lives together.

The future is uncertain. It always is.

But whatever comes next, we’ll face it the way we’ve faced everything else, together, as a family, with fierce love and stubborn determination.

I close my eyes and listen to the sounds of home, low conversations, gentle laughter, Dracula’s contented purring, Phoenix’s steady breathing beside me.

This is what happiness sounds like.

This is what home feels like.

This is what new beginnings look like when you’re victoriously brave enough to embrace them.

Chapter Twenty-Two

HAVEN

One Month Later

The Wedding

The mirror doesn’t lie, but sometimes I wish it would.

Staring at my reflection, I barely recognize the woman looking back at me. The white dress flows like liquid silk from my waist, fading into the softest baby blue at the hem. The bodice is intricate lace that catches the morning light. Delicate patterns of feathers and flowers that speak to who I was, who I am, and who I’m becoming. The same feathered texture cascades down the blue portion of the skirt, blooming outward in a way that makes me feel…feminine.

Beautiful, even.

It’s so far from my usual leather outfits that for a moment, I feel like I’m playing dress-up in someone else’s life.

But that’s precisely the point.

“You look stunning,” Bea whispers from behind me, her hands gentle as she adjusts the delicate arm straps. “Alpha’s going to lose his damn mind when he sees you.”

“That’s the plan,” I murmur, smoothing my palms over the fabric. The blue reminds me of my Blue Jay days, but softer somehow. Less weapon, more woman. “I want him to see that I can be both, you know? The assassin he fell in love with and the Old Lady he’s marrying.”

Clover appears beside me in the mirror, her own bridesmaid dress a complementary shade of dusty blue. “Haven, you’ve always been both. The only difference is now you’re letting yourself be beautiful instead of just badass.”

A month.

It’s been exactly one month since we brought down Javier’s empire, since we watched his Cartel crumble piece by piece like a house of cards. One month since every corrupt official, every bought CEO, every dirty cop on his payroll got dragged into the light and prosecuted. The trials are still ongoing, but justice is finally being served.

Warden Garver was cleared of all wrongdoing. Thank God he’d kept all the evidence that he’d been fighting corruption from the inside all along. So that when the Cartel tried to take him down, there was no way Garver was going to take the hit. And Alpha wasn’t going to let his friend go down without swinging like mad fucking fury either.

His prison is being refitted with the best security money can buy, and those tunnels beneath the facility that once housed horrors are now being converted into wellness retreats for the prisoners.

Bea’s idea, naturally.

Leave it to her to turn a place of nightmares into healing.