He chuckles now. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” I nod to Rusty, who hits the button, and the crane slowly lowers Justin to the surface. “I’m not afraid of water.” He continues to laugh.
“Wrong. That’s hydrofluoric acid. It won’t dissolve you entirely, but it will sure hurt like hell. I don’t need you dissolved, though. I do own a pet crematorium. But you knew that.”
“It wasn’t my idea to go after you. I was pissed that you caught Evie’s eye, but he wanted revenge. He said he was due.”
“Who is he?”
Justin’s feet enter the acid, and his flesh begins to smoke.
“I don’t know. I never met him. Dean knew him. It was all Dean. Ask him.”
“I can’t, he’s dead for raping a woman.”
“Fuck,” Justin screams.
Rusty keeps lowering him into the acid. It’s to his knees, and I know from experience that we don’t have much more time. It’s entering his bloodstream and will kill him soon enough.
“Shut up, Justin.” I walk closer, not stepping within the splash range. “I can get you treatment, and you’ll live if you tell me something.” I nod at Rusty, who raises Justin’s body slightly.
Justin flops around like a soon-to-die fish on a hook. Acid flies around, but I know I’m safe.
As he slows down, aware he’s dying, he looks me in the eyes and says, “He’s going to kill all of you Knights, even Evelise. I’m going to watch you from Heaven.”
I drop my hand, and Rusty drops him. “You’ll be watching from Hell, asshole.”
Justin only flounders for a few more moments before he’s down. Rusty pulls him out of the vat, then over to the water, where he rinses off the body so we can dispose of him safely.
“What the fuck are we going to do?” Torch asks, and I realize I only have one more person to talk to.
“I must talk to my father. This has nothing to do with the Kings but our family instead.”
* * *
By the time we make it back to the compound, Evie and Ruby are in the kitchen, cooking and visiting. I walk over and pull my woman into my arms, glad she’s safe with me. I spend time with her before trying to call my father, but they must be in a remote location, so a call won’t get through to him right now. It will be something I’ll have to talk to him about when they’re home for the holidays.
Epilogue
Evelise
5 years later
“Momma, Momma.”
My little girl comes running for me. I squat down as far as I can to pick her up, but with her little brother in my tummy right now, I’m relatively slow-moving. Lucian’s boys tend to be big boys. Our oldest son, Landry, is now 4 and already bigger than most first-graders at the school. He’s even bigger than his cousins. But my little Gigi, who was born shortly after I lost my gigi, is small and petite. Her long black hair, hanging in curls down her back, is a spitting image of me. She’s 3; she and Landry are Irish twins.
I really tried to keep Lucian from getting me pregnant right away, but it didn’t work. This time, with this little guy, I made him wait. He used a condom for a bit, but he kept forgetting it, so I went on the pill several months ago. Then I caught him flushing them down the toilet and decided it was time to give in and let him breed me again.
Lucian still pretty much runs the town, and he and the new mayor are friends, but only because the mayor realizes that without the club, the town would fold. My little shop is the talk of Northern Rhode Island, and women come from all over the East Coast for me to design their wedding dresses or other clothing needs. I love that I’m able to live my dream of being a designer, but the greatest dream Lucian gave me was my family.
“Grammy said that she was coming to help you.” I laugh with my baby girl as she squeals. She loves my parents. They are here whenever possible, but they travel a lot and only stay in the attached mother-in-law apartment when they can.
After everything went down with Justin and my attack when I was first pregnant with Landry, Lucian built us a house at the backside of the club property, overlooking the lake. The best part is that my best friend is close by, too, and Lucian had the park created. Now our lake is visited by the townsfolk, too.
I finally have my huge family, and if Lucian has his way, we’ll have at least one more after this boy.
Arms wrap around me. “Baby girl, let Momma put you down, you’re getting too big for her to carry right now.”
“That’s cause my baby brother is bigger than an elephant,” Gigi pouts.
