“Do you trust me?”
She nodded unequivocally.
“Then follow me.”
I took her hand and led her to a private elevator in the back ofAllurethat would take us to our penthouse. The whole ride up, we never left each other’s lips. I couldn’t believe that I had Delilah Reyes as mine, now and forever.
Really, I couldn’t believe that I was engaged at all. I was not a man who, even a couple months ago, would have ever considered myself capable of being engaged. If anything, I was the opposite. I had considered Cassius a pussy for being engaged, and I swore I would not go down the same path as he.
Funny how that worked out.
I realized now that what Cassius had done wasn’t softening. If anything, he had become harder, just in different ways. He had become more protective of Sarah, more aware of what mattered most. Just because he wasn’t overtly the same hard, icy man didn’t mean he’d abandoned that sight; he’d just channeled that into a different part of his personality.
The elevator doors opened, and I led Delilah to the edge of my penthouse. The entirety of the Las Vegas Strip lay before us. It was quite the beautiful sight.
But not nearly as beautiful as the woman before me.
I turned to her once more and kissed her again. Whether we ruled all of Las Vegas together or lived in her tiny Reno apartment; whether I was a billionaire or a man with one buck; whatever transpired, for better and for worse, we were forever.
I was still the King of Diamonds. I was still Adrian Vale.
But now, I was whole.
“I love you, Delilah,” I whispered.
She kissed me again, my Queen of Diamonds, now and forever.
“I love you, Adrian.”
Epilogue
“You finally wised the fuck up.”
It was the following evening. Delilah had gone back to Reno to do some further work. It wasn’t a permanent arrangement, but out of respect for her work, I encouraged her to finish her investigation. For the moment, I was with Cassius, sharing a glass of bourbon with my oldest brother.
“I finally got over myself,” I said. “I thought for the longest fucking time that you overshadowed me. I thought I had to be the King of Diamonds to achieve all that I wanted. And you know what? Maybe you are the CEO of our company. But who gives a fuck? I am not defined by my position any more than you are. To Delilah, I am Adrian Vale. And that, I guess you could say, is me wising the fuck up.”
“Cheers to that,” Cassius said, holding up his glass of bourbon. “I take it you’ll still be around as our CFO.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said, but my laugh was good-natured. “As I told Delilah, I’m still the King of Diamonds. I may not be presenting that persona to her, but there’s a time and place for that in business negotiations.”
I paused. Was it worth saying what I wanted to next?
Yes. He was my brother.
“And in the occasional show of strength, as needed with the Morrils.”
“Who are still out there,” Cassius said grimly, “and who your soon-to-be wife believes are establishing crime ties in Reno.”
I nodded. It was an issue that I suspected not even the Morrils knew the full extent of. If they were smart—and as much as we hated them, they were—then they might welcome connections, but they wouldn’t exactly embrace them.
“That leaves Dante and Lucas to take care of things,” I said. “We still can. But for obvious reasons, I’d like to make sure our women stay out of it.”
“Not just,” Cassius said. When I raised an eyebrow, he didn’t seem to notice. “I would prefer if Dante stayed the hell out of it. Left to his own devices, he’ll be worse than a Reaper.”
“So, Lucas,” I said. “Where is Lucas right now?”
Cassius shrugged.
