“I don’t know. It was just so beautiful.” She shrugs. “It’s just weird, ya know…”
“Weird isn’t the word I’d use to describe burying my wife, but sure.” I laugh it off.
I’ve seen people shot and bleeding out, Haidyn playing dead, and Adam shooting himself until he was unrecognizable so he could put a body in his place. But with Eve it was different. There was no denying the dead woman looked like my wife.
“Why did you have it readEverett Sinclair Pierce?” she asks, looking up at me.
“Your father never gave you a middle name, and I didn’t want to take away your mother’s maiden name, so I made it your middle name.” I shrug nervously. “It just felt right.” My wife took my last name, dropping Sinclair. I knew how much that name meant to her, so I wanted her to keep it.
She nods to herself but goes quiet.
“Eve?” I step up to her to see her staring off. She does this from time to time, and I wonder where her mind goes. To the baby that didn’t exist? To the future we’re going to have?
She turns to look at me once more. “What is that?”
She points to a smaller fresh pile of dirt next to her grave.
My pulse races at her question, and I take a step back. “Uh, well…”
“Kashton.” She places her hands on her hips, pushing one out. “What is it?”
I run a hand through my hair. “After I buried you, I had Sin help me with something.”
“What is it?” she demands as I try to avoid answering.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I sigh. “It’s your mother and”—I lower my voice—“the baby.”
Her face falls, and her arms drop to her sides. “Wh-what?”
“I wanted them to be here with you. So we went and dug up some dirt where you would sit at the cemetery, and I brought it back.” I step into her, and tears fill her eyes. “I’m so sorry, angel. I didn’t know about the baby at the time.” Her watery eyes search mine. “I’ve got a headstone coming for them. It should be here next week.” She stands stiff in my arms, and I swallow nervously. “I’m sorry, Eve. I didn’t mean—” She throws her arms around my neck, and I slowly wrap mine around her. “You’re not mad at me?”
She pulls back and sniffs. “No.”
I push the hair from her face. “I just wanted you to all be together.”
I buried my wife and wanted her to be with what little family shedeserved to have in a different life. I know her mother wasn’t actually buried there at the abandoned cemetery, but to her, that was where she mourned a mother she never met and a baby that didn’t exist. That was where she sat and spoke to them. I wanted them to be with her.
“Thank you.” She kisses my cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you, angel.”
EPILOGUE ONE
KASHTON
The clock on my dash shows almost ten p.m. I slam on my brakes and get out of the car, walking into the house like I own it.
A man comes rushing into the living room with his gun raised, dressed in slacks and a button-down. “Goddammit, Kash.” He sighs, lowering it to his side. “What in the fuck are you doing here?”
“You texted me,” I remind him. He sent me one last night, but I never responded. I was busy with my wife.
“I asked if you could meet me today at noon,” he growls, checking his watch, knowing damn well it’s late. “And you never responded.”
“I’m here now.”
Giving me his back, I follow after him.
Entering his study, I slam the door shut behind me and notice there are two other men already in here.
