Page 194
Now was a good time to deflect, because he knew for sure that those two women would not have gotten along, no matter how much of a turnaround Rose might have done. “Thank you for forgiving me about my deception.”
“What’s there to forgive?” Rose asked. “You saved my daughter. You’re one of our country’s heroes. I can’t thank you enough.”
“Mateo?”
Mateo rushed over to where Lainey was just waking up.
“I’m here. You’re safe. I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” she whispered. “I just had the most outrageous dream.”
“It’s okay, you’re safe now,” he assured her.
“Not that. I dreamed my mother called you honey.”
Mateo looked at Lainey in shock for a moment, then he threw back his head and laughed.
EPILOGUE
“She’s fitting right in,” Kostya said as he looked over to where Lainey was sitting with Jada, Lark, Bonnie, and Leila. Once Lainey’s reputation had been cleared at Lionel Security and Trust Bank and Janice had been fired, she could easily get a job in Virginia Beach if she wanted to. Now she was conspiring with some of the other Omega Sky women.
“She’s fitting in a little too well, if you ask me. She spends every Wednesday night with them,” Mateo grumbled.
Gideon snorted. “Aw, poor baby, he doesn’t get to see his woman one night of the week. It must be so rough.”
Mateo looked around the group of men here in Kostya’s living room. The women were in the dining room looking over some printouts. “Hey, she only moved down here three months ago, it is rough. What’s more, two of those months were spent finding a house with a big enough yard for Xena.”
“I like your dog,” Gideon said. “She plays well with Lucy. She has no fear.”
Mateo could finally chuckle just a little. When they opened up Lainey’s bedroom where Xena had been cooped up, she came out all teeth and claws. All the men had backed up from her, not wanting to hurt her. They were more than willing to let her have at Ivan, though. That fucker had deserved all the clawing and bites that he got, before they’d started to pound on him. Unfortunately the cops had come before they’d been able to get the information they needed. But Xena had been a champ. Mateo still grinned about her turnaround.
But when Xena had found her mama, she’d started to whine and cry, but after she was done, she stood guard. Her snarling and growling started all over again when the EMTs arrived. It took everything Lainey and Mateo had to get her to calm down enough to let the EMTs take Lainey away. According to Kostya, even as the cops were taking Ivan away, they still had to hold onto her as she tried to bite and claw Ivan again. Apparently he had become her favorite chew toy.
Amanda left the apartment in a body bag, which made Mateo extremely happy, after he found out exactly what she had done to Lainey.
“So, when is the housewarming party?” Brax asked Gideon.
“Still four more months. It hasn’t mattered how much money I’ve thrown at this project; it has taken forever.”
Kostya laughed and so did Linc, Mateo, and Jase.
“I don’t know how my wife got roped into all of this,” Linc said.
“They want the translations to be right on the webpages, and Lainey said you can’t just trust the AI translation apps.”
“Your woman sure seems hellbent on starting up this low-income loan program,” Kostya said.
“Yep. But it was your wife’s fault. Lainey was planning on getting a degree in non-profits, but Lark said why wait.”
Kostya laughed. “That’s my girl.”
Linc rolled his eyes as he swished another chip through queso and popped it into his mouth. “At least there’s food.”
“At least I got to come this time,” Mateo said.
“So, when are you going to pop the question?” Brax asked.
“Keep your voice down.” Mateo frowned at Brax. “I have a plan.”
