Diego: (Brighton Bad Boys 3)

by Tilly Delane

  Yeah, I sold the league ─ and went into white-collar boxing instead.

  All legit and above board. And great fun. Who knew watching office bods trying to land hits on each other could be such a laugh.

  So in the end, I withdrew my bid for the youth detention centres.

  I realised the return was shit for a boatload of work, and I really didn’t want to sell The Brick to babysit a bunch of delinquents for the rest of my life. And life is good for my guys right now. Why upset the apple cart.

  I would have done, sold The Brick, but only for her. She refused my offer, though, because she knows that I love this building and everything in it.

  And I love my penthouse.

  It’s my home.

  And it will always be hers, too, if she decides it’s safe to come back one day.

  Epilogue I I - 9.5 months later

  Kalina

  I lived in fear for months.

  I didn’t sleep very well most nights, and I was scared ninety percent of my waking hours.

  I thought it would dissipate, once they officially closed the case, but it hasn’t. Not really.

  I sleep a little better now and I’m only scared half the time, but I’m still afraid.

  Not so much for myself, I think I could get used to life in prison if it came to it, but for the boys.

  It’s why I didn’t want Diego to come and visit me, no matter how often he begged.

  I returned Piotr to his parents three days after we walked out of the house of horrors.

  Splitting the boys up was heart-wrenching. The two nights that we hid them at Sheena’s house they remained inseparable. We’d offered them a room each. Sheena was happy to stay at the penthouse with Diego and me and give one of them her room. But no matter how often Zoltan told Piotr it was alright, that he ‘didn’t have to do that anymore’ and that he could sleep in his own bed, Piotr clung to his protector like a limpet.

  I don’t blame him, I wouldn’t have trusted us either.

  Though I think watching me transform from a boy back into a woman as soon as we got to Sheena’s helped a long way. So did having Grace around. The woman is like a balm for tortured souls.

  When Piotr and Zoltan said goodbye to one another, they held each other for the longest time, until Zoltan mouthed ‘take care of him’ at me above Piotr’s head. Then he ripped away, turned and went back into Sheena’s house, never once looking back at Piotr, Diego, Silas and me, as we stood in the pub car park opposite, ready to drive to the marina.

  Diego had chartered a sailboat, so he and I could take Piotr to The Netherlands.

  Watching my man skipper a boat was a totally new side to him that I’ll never forget. I should have known he sails, being a seaside boy, but it still blew me away how happy and free he looked out on the ocean, despite our frightened cargo.

  My blond, sexy pirate. I still dream of him.

  There was one hairy moment, when we got to the other side and the officials looked at Piotr‘s stolen passport. The likeness was good, but the passport was British, and I was worried they would query his accent. But one thing I’ve learned in life is that if you are young, but not too young, white, or at least white enough, and look ‘expensive‘, but not too ‘expensive’, nobody will look too closely. Not even the Dutch. So we passed with ease, and then the next morning we parted ways.

  I kissed my sexy blond pirate goodbye, and Piotr and I got on a train to Germany.

  And that’s where I’ve stayed.

  My parents are still there, for now, and I rented a flat not too far from them. I started spending time with my brothers a lot. They’re out of the awkward teen phase now and you can have actual conversations with them. Every couple of weeks, I get on a train to Jülich and check in on Piotr.

  Konstantin and I parted ways. He doesn’t know exactly what happened in Brighton, but he understood the need for Piotr’s return to be as publicity-free as possible. And he understood that the case had changed me, fundamentally. So currently, I’m jobless.

  I have enough money saved to keep me going for a little while, and I’m not above taking handouts from my parents, so I’m not worried financially, but I have no idea what to do with my life now.

  So I read a lot. And I’ve started learning Mandarin. For a while, I still tried to find out who the other boy was, the one Zoltan called Bonsai and that he says Callum and Cormac fed to the fight dogs, but I never got to the bottom of that one.

  Some children just stay lost. Some aren’t missed. As if they’d never been.

  It breaks my heart every time, thinking about it.

  So I stopped digging in the end.

  I’ve kept in touch with the gang as much as it felt safe, and I’ve missed them like crazy.

  Every hour of every day.

  At one point, Diego offered to sell up, grab me and emigrate to wherever I fancy on the planet.

  And I know he meant it.

  But I also know that things are never that easy.

  We have families. Mine is blood. His is love, sweat and tears.

  And he’s bigger than just him and me.

  We all are, but he’s one of those people who keep a place’s lifeblood pumping and taking him out of Brighton would leave a hole in the city’s heart ─ and in his ─ that mind-blowing sex and fine seafood cannot fill in the long run.

  And I want the long run.

  With him.

  I’ve missed him so much.

  Mind, body and soul.

  Each time I hear his voice on the phone or see his beautiful face on my screen, I want to cry.

  Each time we hang up, I do.

  But not today.

  Today, I cut the connection on our call with a smile on my face and my heart beating like crazy, knowing full well that very, very soon I’ll be back in the arms of my man. He said he’s brought a limo.

  I grin at the thought when I step up to the border control officer, pulling my suitcase behind me. I only took hand luggage this time. Most of my Brighton stuff is still at The Brick. And the rest I don’t care about.

  The officer checks my passport and does a double take between the picture and me.

  I’ve changed a lot. My hair is a couple of inches longer than in the photo and back to my natural brown, I have a kink in my nose now, and my face is gaunter. Not sleeping much does that to you.

  “Business or pleasure?” he asks.

  Love, I want to answer, but I know better than to fuck with the authorities.

  “Pleasure,” I answer, and he smiles at me, handing me my passport back.

  “Welcome to Britain, Miss Kaminski.”

  ∞

  Afterword, Thank Yous, Contact & Begging for Reviews

  Afterword

  That’s it. With Diego’s book the Brighton Bad Boys trilogy is now complete. It’s been a wild ride and I’m sad to leave these guys behind. I hope their futures will pan out for them. Having all fallen for foreigners, they will have a rocky road with immigration ahead ─ bar Silas whose leading lady conveniently came with double nationality. In real life, a wedding to Rowan in Vegas would not suffice for Raven to be allowed to stay in the UK. And I shudder at the red tape Kalina/Kristina and Diego will have to endure if she wants to become a permanent resident. In my lifetime, I have witnessed borders being opened and I have benefited from being allowed to blossom across them. Now I’m seeing the reverse happening. It makes me sad to think that my babies might not be allowed to love and to live with whomever they fall for because of some misguided idea of protecting ‘your own’.

  One earth, one ball in space, one humanity.

  Thank you...

  ...to the usual suspects: my babies; the man who gave me those babies; my sister for dressing my guys; Cheyenne Blue for her invaluable advice and insights; Kathryn Calvert, my proof-reader and editor for being simply the best; Amber for helping me with the animal care; and to Aubrey Brandon for writing the first ever review for Silas AND the first ever review for Rowan. I’m so glad I found yo
u.

  And thank you ─ you, who’s reading this right now this minute. It means you took a chance on my book(s). I am very grateful and I hope I didn’t disappoint.

  Contact

  tillydelaneauthor@gmail.com

  Or find me on goodreads or facebook.

  Begging for ratings and reviews

  If you enjoyed your trip with me, please leave a review/rating on amazon. The more reviews a book gets (good or bad) the more visible it becomes. It doesn’t have to be long. A one-word review is still a review!