by Ella Miles
“That’s why you need to get away from it all for a while. Take the babies and just get away,” Langston responds as he helps me pack the twins’ clothes into a bag.
“Come with me,” I say.
He frowns. “You know I love the twins, but I need a break. I need time to mourn my own losses. I need to figure out what I want.”
I gnaw on my lip, trying to decide if now is the time to tell him or not. We’ve been living in Miami in a hotel room for the last six months. I’ve been running the Black organization from here, while Langston has helped with the twins. We’ve both been so busy we have barely had time to mourn.
But now that everything has settled, it’s time. Time to mourn. Time to make the tough decisions about our future. And I think it’s time Langston knows the truth.
“What aren’t you telling me?” he asks.
“I think you should sit,” I say.
“No, I think I’ll stand.”
I sigh. “Langston, there is something I’ve kept hidden from you.
“At first, we didn’t tell you because you weren’t in a good place. And if something happened to her, we didn’t think you could mourn her twice and survive. But then she survived, and she asked me not to tell you. She wanted space.”
“Who?” he asks, but I can already see his heart breaking.
“Liesel—she’s alive.”
His knees weaken, and he falls, luckily a rocking chair is behind him to break the fall.
He sits in the chair, his eyes glazed over. “Liesel is alive?”
“Yes.”
“And she didn’t want me to know?”
“Yes.”
I watch his face twist, his heart throb in pain. I think knowing Liesel wanted him to think she was dead might be worse than her actually being dead.
Suddenly, he stands up. “I need to go.”
“Wait!” I chase after him as he walks out of the hotel room.
“Kai, I love you. I will find you in a few months once I’ve dealt with this pain and betrayal, but right now I just need time.”
I stop at the door. “I understand. I’m sorry.”
He walks back and gives me a hug. “You aren’t the one who should be saying sorry.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
And then he’s gone. And I’m alone with the twins. I’m supposed to take some time to decide what is best for me and the twins, and there is only one place I can imagine going where I can think. One place in the world that was only ever Enzo and mine’s. One place that all the people who knew of its existence are now dead—Alaska.
I walk into the house my father bought for me in Alaska, carrying a child under each arm. I can say one thing—my arms have gotten a lot stronger over these last six months.
But the second we step inside, I know this is right. This is home. I don’t know what this means for the Black organization. I don’t know what this means for our future, but this is where my heart is.
“We are home,” I say.
“Took you long enough.”
I look up and see two angels.
I should know by now people can return from the dead. But not when I watched them die with my own eyes.
I set each crawling child down and run straight for Enzo. The twins start crawling hurriedly when they spot their father and uncle.
Enzo grabs me in his arms and spins me around as his lips crash down on mine before we collapse on the floor as the twins reach us. He scoops them both up in his arms while never letting go of me.
We are all crying and kissing and hugging. And then I remember Beckett. I hold my arms out, and he joins the kissing and hugging fest.
“You’re both alive,” I whisper.
They cry their responses.
“What took you so long to come here?” Beckett cries.
“I knew it would hurt the most coming here. Because this place reminded me the most of both of you.”
Enzo kisses both of our children who are delighted but also trying to crawl away to explore. But he won’t let them go.
“Jesus, they’ve gotten so big. I missed so much,” Enzo says.
“But you won’t miss anymore,” I say.
Enzo and Beckett have fallen silent, and I realize I’m missing part of their plan.
“We are alive, but only because everyone thinks we are dead. When you go back to Miami, we have to stay hidden here. We can only have these brief moments of happily ever after,” Enzo says.
I frown.
“No, I just got you back. I’m Mrs. Black now. I’m their leader. I have the money, the resources, the power. They will let you live if I tell them to,” I say.
Beckett gives me a look, though, and I know I’m wrong.
“Was this your guys’ plan all along? To fake your deaths?” I ask.
“Sort of…” Beckett says looking to Enzo for help.
“We were both willing to sacrifice ourselves for you. For these kids. We knew you had to live. We knew you could defeat Felix, which we are so fucking proud of you for. So that’s what we did. We died. I’m just lucky the tide was high enough to break my fall, and I can hold my breath for a long time, and I'm an excellent swimmer. I swam away and only surfaced when I was far enough away I didn’t think anyone could see me.”
“Well, it worked. Because I’ve thought you were dead this entire time.” I look from Enzo to Beckett.
“I just got lucky Felix is a bad shot. He missed my heart and lungs by millimeters. The men didn’t check if I was breathing after I dropped, they just dragged me off. They left me alone in the back of the truck before they buried me. I fled. I guess they didn’t tell you they lost my body,” Beckett says.
I think back to the burial service I had for Beckett and Enzo. They both have markers on the ledge Enzo fell from. I just assumed Beckett’s body had actually been buried there. They dug a hole and everything.
I look at both men and slap them hard across the cheek.
“Don’t ever do that to me again! You don’t get to sacrifice yourself. There is always another way,” I say.
But then I grab both of their necks, hugging them as we all cry again, so happy it all worked out. They are alive. Even if I only get them in small bursts.
There is a small rapping on the door, and we all freeze. Beckett and Enzo draw their guns. And I wipe my tears, gripping my own gun in my jeans, before I walk to the door. I look through the peephole and see Clifton, one of my most loyal men.
I let go of my gun in my waistband and open the door.
“Yes, Clifton? What are you doing here? I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed unless it was urgent,” I say.
He moves out of the way, and I see fifty men standing in my driveway.
“This is urgent,” he says.
I step onto my front porch, feeling tense. I don’t know what the hell is happening. “What’s going on?”
Silence.
“Clifton, what’s happening?”
But one of the other men steps forward. “Is Enzo here? Is he alive?”
Panic shoots through me. We are outnumbered fifty to three. If they want him dead, they will kill him. And again, I would have to choose between my husband and my children. My kids are inside. I can’t let them hurt them.
“Is that why you are all here? To try and kill a dead man? Go home! All of you! I’ve given my everything to running this empire for the last six months, and now when I want to rest and mourn in peace for a month, you all show up at my doorstep and bring up the love of my life—whose death I will never get over. Really? That’s how you repay my loyalty to you? With distrust? You all just made my decision much easier. I thought I wanted to keep this company running. I thought we could find a way to do something good with what generations have built. But I was wrong.” Tears stream, but I’m not sure if it’s from fear or being hurt by men and women I thought were loyal to me.
I start walking back inside, hoping I said enough to get them to leave. But Enzo a
nd Beckett will need to find a new place to hide out in.
“Mrs. Black, I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to bring up the past or your pain. But we saw how hard you fought for Enzo. How much you loved each other. And many of us now realize we were wrong to make you choose. You have children who you love, but it’s never stopped you from being a great leader. We were just hoping somehow against all odds Enzo survived. We want to see you happy. We think you fight better with him by your side. We just hoped our queen got her king.”
I blink. I must have misheard. This can’t be happening.
But then the door is opening, and Enzo steps out.
I don’t know if he heard what the man said, or if he’s just trying to prevent a fight from happening near our kids.
But when he steps out, then men start bowing down to Enzo as they did to me.
Enzo walks over to me and holds me around the waist. “Well, look at that. Some members of our team are loyal to us. Love wins, after all.”
He kisses me tenderly on the lips.
A moment later, Beckett steps out, carrying the twins and the men and women light up seeing our entire family together.
Not every person who works for us is here. It might still be a fight. But we have a large loyal group who wants us to lead them. They believe our love makes us better leaders.
“If we are going to continue to lead this organization, there are going to be some changes made,” I say.
“Yes!” everyone shouts as they stand back up.
“For one,” I pull the stupid contract with all the children’s names on it. “We will no longer play ridiculous games to decide who the next leader is. If Enzo and I were to both die, then the group will vote on who their next leader is.”
“Yes!” everyone shouts.
I hold the contract up, and someone tosses Enzo a lighter. He lights it, then we all watch as the contract burns. My children are safe from ever having to compete. Liesel’s child is safe. Even Felix’s child, if she does exist, is safe.
Our family still has a hard future ahead. We will always have enemies. We will always have allies who turn against us. We will always have family that pops up in unexpected ways. But we will also always have each other.
I kiss Enzo on the lips as we start planning our new life together. One where we don’t live in the shadows. One where we don’t have to die in order to live.
“Truth or lie,” I start.
Enzo smiles and then waits for me to finish.
“Truth or lie—now we live happily ever after?”
“Truth.”
Epilogue
Kai
Five Months Later
“Hurry up! The twins’ birthday party starts in three hours,” Enzo says as I walk to the door.
I laugh. “I’ll be back in an hour. The decorations are already finished. All you have to do is pick up the cake and get them dressed.”
He kisses me on the lips. “Fine, go. Go be Mrs. Black. I’ll wait here like the nobody I am.”
I laugh. “You were the one who let me win. You could have fought harder,” I say.
He waves me off, not wanting to get into the argument again. For the past few months, we have found our roles when it comes to running the empire. I found our purpose—protecting innocent lives by saving women from domestic violence and human trafficking, and feeding and helping children who were abused find good homes.
Enzo helps ensure the money keeps rolling in by selling technology, yachts, and weapons to our allies, but only to those who aren’t hurting innocent lives.
Beckett has found a knack for building new technologies and is key to the development of new security systems we sell.
We all have our roles to play. It makes us better, stronger.
Even though the men and women accept our leadership as a unit, I’m still the one in charge. If there is a disagreement about anything, I’m the one who gets final say.
It drives Enzo crazy. Even Beckett struggles with it sometimes when he disagrees with my decision. But it is what it is. If they didn’t want me to lead, then they shouldn’t have sacrificed their lives to make it so.
Today, we are celebrating the twins’ birthday, but I got an urgent message from Archard saying he hasn’t gotten word yet that I visited the vault and changed the entry codes. He said they expire today and everything inside will be lost forever if I don’t go use the code.
I’m the only one who is allowed the codes and allowed to enter the vault, so I’m going alone.
The vault is where Surrender, the club, once stood. But the vault survived the explosion.
I drive my Maserati to the site and follow Archard’s instructions to the stairs leading down to the vault still there, buried beneath the rubble. He had some of the men move enough of the rocks out of my way so I can find it.
I get to the door and enter the ridiculous string of letters and numbers I have no idea how I remember, but I do. And then I pause. I don’t know what’s behind this door. I’m sure riches and more wealth than I can imagine. Not that I need any of that. My bank account is ridiculously large. But whatever is behind the door, men and women have died fighting to protect. They have entrusted me.
I push the door open and step inside. The door automatically closes behind me, making me jump.
It’s dark inside, so I flick a light on. And jump again. The room runs the entire length that Surrender once did. I can barely see to the other side. And it’s filled with paintings, jewels, money and riches, none of which particularly surprises me. I see drawers of plans for future weapons. And I’m sure every technology we have ever created exists between these walls. I take my time looking at everything. I need to spend more time down here to understand it all, not because the money or riches mean anything to me, but because I need to decide what should be done with it.
Today isn’t that day.
I walk back to the door and see the keypad and face scanner that will let me out. I enter the code in again and then it asks for it to be changed and my face scanned. I change the code to something ridiculous but unforgettable. This seems too important to forget. The machine scans my face, and then the door unlocks.
I’m about to leave when I see an envelope taped below it with one word on it—Black.
I grab the envelope and leave the vault, and the responsibilities of Black, behind. It’s time to go to a birthday party.
“You invited Liesel and Langston?” Beckett asks as he carries the cake into the kitchen of our brand new Miami house. We had a new house rebuilt on the site of the final game. The site Enzo’s home used to live on. It felt right. We are moving in tomorrow, but today is the twins’ first birthday. So we are celebrating in our empty house first.
“Yes,” I answer.
“But don’t they hate each other?” he asks.
“I don’t think so,” I say.
“That’s wishful thinking,” Enzo says, scooping Finn up and tossing him over his head. Finn laughs hysterically as he flies through the air and lands in his father's arms.
“We don’t know for sure. We haven’t seen them in months,” I say. I haven’t seen Liesel since the day of the final game. And I haven’t seen Langston since he walked out my door in anger.
The doorbell rings, and I scoop Ellie up. “Let’s go see who's at the door.”
I open it, and Langston and Liesel are both at the door holding presents with a pissed expression on their faces. Well, I guess that answers that question.
“Come in!” I say, cheerily. I'm so happy all the people I love are in the same room celebrating.
Ellie tugs at my black scrunchie on my wrist. My heart tugs. Well, most of the people I love are here.
I lead Langston and Liesel into the kitchen where they set the gifts down, and Enzo and Beckett give them both hugs and small talk.
“Cake,” Finn says, motioning to his mouth. He can’t say many words, but Enzo thought they should both know the word cake before their birthday.
“Ca!” Ellie says, n
ot quite able to say the “ke” sound yet.
I smile. “I think we should do the cakes first, then open gifts.”
Everyone nods. I put Ellie in her high chair while Enzo puts Finn in his. And then we carry the two small individual-sized cakes we got in front of each of them while Beckett carries the large cake and ice cream for the rest of us to the table. We all gather around and start singing happy birthday, but we didn’t really think it through. Both of the kids start digging into their cakes before we are even halfway through the song. I snap a million pictures of them as they eat their cake—loving every second of this.
Beckett slices the main cake and scoops out vanilla ice cream onto each plate.
I bite my lips as Enzo takes a bite of cake with ice cream, his first time tasting the treat.
“Oh my god. This is the sweetest, most delicious thing,” Enzo says.
We all laugh.
“Wait until you try other flavors. It will blow your mind,” I say.
Enzo shovels more of the cake and ice cream into his mouth.
But then my phone rings. I stop to answer it. “We are under attack,” Clifton says.
I sigh. “We will be right there.”
I end the call. “Duty calls.”
Enzo and Beckett stand up.
“Where are you going?” Liesel asks.
“One of our ships was attacked. It’s thirty minutes from here. We need to make sure everyone is okay. We will be two hours tops,” I say as I kiss Finn and Ellie on the head who don’t care their parents have to step away from their birthday party for a couple of hours. They have cake.
“You two don’t mind watching them while we are gone, do you? It will only be an hour or two. They can have all the cake they want, but don’t let them open any of the gifts until we get back,” I say, not really giving Liesel or Langston a choice as the three of us—Enzo, Beckett, and I, step out the door.
I shut the door, and then we climb into our Escalade. Beckett drives while Enzo rides shotgun, and I sit in the back.