Grinning, I reached for the belt of her robe and pulled it until it fell open. “Since you ask so sweetly,” I told her, then shoved my hand between her legs and found her already slick and ready for me.
Epilogue
Luther
I held Lace’s small hand tightly in mine as we walked down the hallway in the nursing facility an hour out of Madison, that provided excellent long-term care. Although I’d been here already, this was her first visit. I’d waited to bring her until she asked me.
The past three months, a lot had happened, and I didn’t want to push her to do anything. She’d been controlled her entire life, and I’d be damned if I or anyone else controlled my girl again.
She was an adult. A smart, witty, kind, thoughtful adult, and she had her own mind.
We reached the door that belonged to Dalia Halsten and stopped. Lace stared at it but didn’t move to open it.
“We don’t have to do this today, sugar. She’s fine. I keep a check on her,” I said, leaning down to whisper in her ear.
She shook her head. “No. I need to go in there. See her.”
All right then, that was what we would do.
“Take your time,” I said.
Her shoulders rose and fell as she took a deep breath. This was the first time I’d seen her struggle.
When Alpheus’s arrest was all over the news for fraud and money laundering, along with the coverage of his lie about Lace’s death and Dalia’s condition, she had only winced at the old photograph that they had shown of her.
The news that Alpheus had been found dead, drowned in his own bathtub with lethal amounts of fentanyl in his system, two nights after he was released on bail, hadn’t affected her either. She seemed relieved. Her only concern was for Dalia’s well-being.
I had taken care of that. Just like I would take care of any problem in her life.
“I’m ready,” she said, straightening her shoulders with a determined look on her face.
I stepped forward and opened the door, then followed her into the room. Dalia sat in a wheelchair in front of the window with a blank expression, her head lying against the brace that kept it from hanging forward. She’d been dressed in a blue gown with long sleeves, and a pair of beige slippers were on her feet.
“Hello, Dalia,” Lace said as she walked closer to her sister. “You look pretty. Blue has always been your color.”
My gaze stayed on Lace as she spoke to Dalia as if her sister heard and understood her when, in reality, she was in a vegetative state. Lace talked about the lovely view she had and how nice her room was decorated. My thoughts went to the days, weeks, years she’d spent doing this every day. Taking care of her sister. Having no other life except what Halsten required of her.
I intended to make sure she lived the fullest goddamn life imaginable. I might not be able to give her back the years she’d lost, but I’d make the ones to come a fucking fairy tale.
Her demons had been slayed. The son of a bitch who had beaten her had disappeared shortly after Alpheus was arrested. They’d probably search for him for years, but they’d never find him. Seemed our hogs had a keen liking for the taste of a wealthy, spoiled bastard.
Lace turned to me, and a smile spread across her face.
I’d always believed I couldn’t love a woman. That one cunt wasn’t enough for me. And until Lace, it had been true.
She was all I could see, all I wanted, and she filled a void I hadn’t known was there.
She mouthed the wordsI love youfrom across the room. It didn’t matter how many times she told me she loved me it made me feel like a god. I’d never wanted love from a woman, but that was all before her. The one who would change everything for me.
My good girl had become my salvation.
