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Why isn’t he kissing me still?

Isn’t this already the part where we can kiss and make up and live happily ever after?

“He likes you, Karyna,” Ruel says tightly.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I realize this is me being stupid again because I finally realize…

“You’re jealous,” I whisper in shock.

“Are you telling me I have no reason to?” Ruel’s tone is taut. “I’ve seen how relaxed you are with him. How he makes you⁠—”

I did it.

It’s the right time anyway, and there’s no rule that it always has to be the guy to make the first move, I just went ahead and did it.

I kissed Ruel while he’s still speaking, and⁠—

Oh!

The box falls to the floor, my back hits the seat, and as our clothes seem to melt away like they always do whenever Ruel takes over⁠—

I hope…

My mind is capable of one last thought as I start to lose myself in the heat of his touch, which I never thought I’d ever feel again.

I just hope Chadwick won’t mind if we make him wait a bit outside the car.

* * *

Sadie had everything rehearsed when the door opened again. This was what she had been waiting for her entire life. A chance to undo her youthful mistake and be with Ruel again. It was why she had been so patient all this time, spending an entire fortune just to have detectives give her a clue about Ruel’s next whereabouts.

It was how she had ended up moving to Connecticut and signing up for membership at Harbour Locke. She had known this was her only chance, and although she had made so many mistakes along the way⁠—

I’m still his first love, she reminded herself, and no one can take that away from me, least of all that little nobody⁠—

“Is she in here?”

Sadie didn’t even get a chance to scream…while everyone at the police station looked the other way as she was carried out of the precinct, blindfolded, gagged, and her hands shackled behind her back.

Since she hadn’t thought twice about having an innocent woman locked up for a crime she didn’t commit, arrangements had been made for her to appreciate the error of her ways…in time.

But not too soon, of course.

Lessons had to leave their mark before they could bear fruit.

Epilogue

Ican see it now.

Someday, when I'm old and gray and my grandchildren have run out of things to ask me, Netflix will finally come knocking. But this time, the documentary won't be about a dead girl.

Karyna Francisco Caristia: The Girl Who Got Her Happy Ending, All by God’s Grace.

Because it’s true.

When Ruel and I got back together, and we started talking…it just had us in awe, and honestly, it had me crying, and Ruel’s eyes suspiciously bright, when we realized how God turned everything for good. Because Ruel was right. Humans had the most incredible capacity for both good and evil, and there was no telling what could happen with people who didn’t truly know Him. Sadie setting me up and bribing those officers to have me arrested could have easily gotten so much worse…