My lips find his out of instinct, sealing the promise between us like an unspoken contract we’ve both secretly signed.
“This family,” I whisper against his lips, “is going to survive.”
He holds me tighter, like he already knows the truth.
We’re not running from anyone anymore.
We’re creating roots, and building something together worth fighting for.
A family.
Epilogue Two
Poppy
A door slams.
Illegible swearing follows, before the sound of glass shattering erupts downstairs.
I lose count after the fourth item hits the wall, imagining the pointed pieces littering the cold linoleum floor in jagged mayhem.
The steady rhythm of my heartbeat increases to adrenaline and terror as his footsteps reach the bottom of the stairwell and angrily ascend toward the room we share, each one heavier than the first.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Now we’re in total sync, my erratic heartbeats mirroring his steps of rage. It’s a chaotic pairing that has me cowering in the corner, looking for every shadow to conceal me, though none of them do. I’m vulnerable. Weak. No match for the foe I created on the other side of the door.
He tries the lock, slowly at first, then jerks it violently as he pounds on the wooden blockade separating us with murderous intent.
“Open the fucking door, woman.”
When I don’t answer, he rams it with his body, causing me to scream.
One hit.
Two hits.
Then the door splinters open, the flimsy lock no match for the massive man huffing and puffing in the hallway.
“You stupid fucking bitch!” His voice is like ice picks and razors, grating through me like he’s already carving me into pieces. “Did you think you could betray me and get away with it?”
He marches across the room in two strides, fist already at my scalp and yanking me to my feet.
“I fucking picked you up out of the gutter and made you into the woman you are today. Now look at you! There are track marks running up and down your arms, and a stupid look of betrayal rushing to your eyes. You know what you did, and now you have to pay for it!”
His hand snaps across my cheek, ring cutting through me like a blade. Warm blood creeps down my cheek, as he strikes me again, this time across the mouth.
“Tell me why you did it!” he screams. “Why did you betray us?”
“I—I—”
Another smack, this time for taking too long.
But I couldn’t let them die. Not like that. It doesn’t matter that I sold my soul to the devil. A part of me will always be there for them no matter what happened between us in the past. I had to warn them. I had to warn him…
