“I have plenty of responsibility. I’m just not boring about it.” Kai looks at Dad. “Back me up here.”
Dad’s watching us with amusement. “I think you’re outnumbered.”
“See?” Samantha grins at Kai. “Even your father agrees with me.”
“Traitor,” Kai mutters, but he’s smiling.
We stay up talking until almost three in the morning. Business and nonsense and everything in between. Kai falls asleep first,head tipped back against the couch. Samantha’s not far behind, curled against him with her hand resting on her stomach.
Dad stands and stretches. “I’m heading to bed. You coming?”
“In a minute.” I’m still watching Samantha sleep. “I want to make sure they’re settled first.”
He nods and leaves without another word.
I sit there in the quiet, listening to the fire crackle and watching the two of them breathe. This is what we’re protecting now. This strange, unconventional family that shouldn’t work but does.
Robert tried to destroy us using Samantha as a weapon.
Instead, she became the thing that made us whole.
I stand and grab a blanket from the chair, draping it over both of them. Kai doesn’t stir. Samantha makes a small sound and shifts closer to him, and I feel that unfamiliar warmth in my chest again.
The one Kai said was love.
Maybe he was right.
EPILOGUE
SAMANTHA
Two Years Later
The twins discoversnow the way they discover everything else in life—with complete commitment and zero caution.
Matteo throws himself forward into the drift beside the expanded lodge, and his brother Lucas follows half a second later because he’s never let Matteo do anything alone. They disappear into white powder up to their waists, and their laughter carries across the clearing like bells.
I watch from the kitchen window while my coffee gets cold in my hands. January sunshine turns the Colorado mountains into something out of a postcard, all sharp peaks and endless blue sky.
The lodge we built onto the original structure blends seamlessly with what was already here, adding the space we needed without losing the character that made this place feel like home from the beginning.
“Sam, you’re going to wear a hole in that window.” Grant’s voice comes from behind me, followed by the familiar weight of his hand on my hip.
“I’m watching to make sure Kai doesn’t let them build a ramp and try to ski down the hill.” I lean back against him. “He’s got that look in his eyes.”
“He’s on his medication and has explicit orders from the doctor not to encourage reckless behavior in children under two.” Grant presses a kiss to my temple. “Though I’ll admit, those orders might not be working.”
Outside, Kai hoists Matteo onto his shoulders while Lucas tugs at his leg, demanding equal treatment. Both boys are bundled in matching navy snowsuits that make them look like tiny astronauts, dark hair sticking up in every direction under their winter hats.
Watching the three of them together, you’d never know that Kai takes pills twice a day to keep his heart from giving out. He moves with the same energy he always had, just tempered now with the understanding that invincibility is a myth.
Donovan appears on the porch with his tablet, probably reviewing something that can’t wait until regular business hours. He says something that makes Kai laugh, and then he’s crouching down to Lucas’s level, listening with exaggerated seriousness to whatever the sixteen-month-old is babbling about.
“Your coffee’s cold,” Grant observes, taking the mug from my hands and heading to the pot for a fresh pour. “And you’ve been standing there for twenty minutes.”
“Have I?” I turn away from the window, accepting the warm cup he hands me. “I was just thinking.”
“About?”
