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I lean against him, exhausted.

He wraps an arm around my shoulders.

After a while, he says, “There's something else.”

I look up.

“What?”

“I love you, Madison.”

For a moment, I forget everything else.

He cups my cheek.

“Been fighting it since the day you climbed through my damn window. But I love you, sweetheart. And I want you with me. Not because I get to decide where you belong. Because you want to be there.”

My eyes sting again.

“Preston Chavez, if you make me cry one more time...”

His mouth curves.

“Sorry, wildfire.”

I laugh and kiss him.

“I love you, too.”

He pulls me closer.

And for the first time since I found that obituary, the questions about my father don't seem quite so important.

The man I spent months searching for was never going to give me what I needed.

Mom already gave me a family.

And now, somehow, I've found another.

I settle against Torch's chest.

“Can we go home?”

He kisses the top of my head.

“Yeah, sweetheart.”

He starts the engine.

“Let's go home.”

Epilogue

Madison

Two Years Later

“Preston Chavez, your daughter is eating your cut.”