I’m falling in love with her. Aurora Blackwell, sheltered daughter of my mortal enemy, a girl whose life I was determined to destroy. I’m falling in love with her.
I think I already have.
EPILOGUE
AURORA
Life is different. Life is good.
Life ismylife. Mine. My own, nobody else’s. There’s nobody to tell me what to do anymore. Nobody keeping me locked up.
The office is cozy in its new setup. It’s only been a few weeks since Liam opened it up to me, and I’m still getting used to spending so much time together, but I like it more every day. He’s in his world, I’m in mine, but we make it work.
And he was right. Being able to look up from my screen to watch him reading or typing… it’s nice. Spending time together fills the lonely void I dealt with all those years. It lights up my heart and always makes me smile to see him sitting there. I feel like I’m home, for the first time. I’m really home.
I’m a little embarrassed when he looks up and finds me watching. “Hi,” he murmurs with a tiny grin. Could I ever have imagined this becoming possible? Sharing an office with him? Wanting to spend time with him instead of being forced into it? When I think back on that first night, how scared and angry and disgusted I was by him, it’s like I’m thinking back on another person’s life. Not mine.
“Hi,” I reply. “Sorry. You caught my eye.”
“You don’t ever have to apologize for that.” He jerks his chin in my direction. “How’s it going?”
“I have a ton of reading to do,” I report after finishing watching my latest lecture. Intro to Psychology, pretty basic stuff, but what matters more is what it stands for. It symbolizes me taking the first step into the future. I can’t wait to dig in further, to take more classes, to start living like a normal person. I can dream now. Not just fantasies, the kind of things I know will never come true. I can make it all come true.
And a lot of that is thanks to Liam, of course. It’s all thanks to him. He freed me by taking me hostage. It’s weird when I think about it that way, but it’s the truth.
Maggie is nice enough to bring us sandwiches for lunch which we eat at our respective desks while Liam goes through reports. He’s doing everything he can to keep himself busy. When he’s not busy, he’s thinking about Laura, and whether Nick will be able to bring her home. So of course, why not restructure the businesses that landed in his lap after we were married? No better time, I guess.
He scowls when his phone rings, but his expression clears up when he sees who’s calling. “Ethan,” he murmurs, then picks up. “How’s it going?”
Then he looks at me. It’s the kind of look that makes my breath catch and my heart get stuck in my throat. “You’re serious? Hold on. Let me put you on speaker. I’m here with Aurora now.”
What’s this all about? Ethan’s voice comes through. “Hey, Aurora. Liam, how much does she know?”
“I told you, this has been between the two of us.”
“What is he talking about?” I ask. I don’t like the sound of any of this. I feel the old doubts and fears creeping in.
“We found her,” Ethan announces. “We found your mom.”
The news makes me fall back in my chair. I feel like somebody just punched me in the stomach—all of the air leaves my body, and it takes a second to pull any back in.
“I told you, didn’t I?” Liam gets up and comes over to me, pulling me from my chair, wrapping me in his embrace. “I told you we would find her.”
“As it turns out, she’s been trying to find you for years,” Ethan explains. All I can do is lean against Liam and try to keep up. Mom. They found Mom. My actual mother. She’s real, she’s alive. And she was trying to find me.
“You’re sure it’s her?” It’s the first thing I can think to ask. “It’s really her?”
“She’s been living under her maiden name around fifteen hundred miles away,” Ethan explains. “I’m sure she can tell you all about it. Suffice it to say, Donovan made it impossible for her to come anywhere close to you, so she figured she would go far away, and it would make everything easier to live with.”
My mom. My actual mother. Somebody I thought was dead all my life. She was out there, wanting me, missing me. “I can’t believe it,” I whisper.
“I can send you everything I have on her,” Ethan offers. I only nod my head furiously, too emotional to say another word. I turn my face, pressing it against Liam’s chest, clinging to him for dear life. She’s alive. They found her.
“Do that,” Liam tells him. “Get back in touch with her. We can set up a video call.”
“I need a minute,” I manage to choke out. “Maybe later today. I need… time.”
“You’ve got it,” Ethan tells me before three beeps signal the end of the call. Now, without him listening in, I can stop fighting the wave of emotion that’s trying to drown me. Liam holds me through it all, rocking me in his arms, giving me exactly what I need.
