by Malcom, Anne
Now I thought of him. Now, I was surprised he was still breathing.
I realized that I had expected Lance to kill him. Despite what he’d promised me in the Greenstone Security offices in another lifetime.
It didn’t bother me, that single broken promise. Because I knew that Lance would keep every other promise he’d made to me.
I understand Lance now. As much as anyone could understand a man like that. As much as a human could understand another human being. I knew that he needed to eliminate every threat to his sanity that he could eliminate. Nathan and I were his sanity now. I got that. Because he was part of mine. Part of Nathan’s. Lance had lost his whole family in the past. Due to factors he couldn’t control. Factors no human, no matter how badass, could control. Robert was a factor he could control. A threat he could control. He didn’t eliminate him before all this, because he was respecting my wishes. Respecting me. Nathan.
All that changed when Robert almost killed me. When Robert gave Lance a taste of the horror that no human being should have to go through once, let alone twice.
So in my eyes, his life was forfeit.
The promise was forfeit.
Except that it wasn’t.
Lance had never broken a promise to me, and he never would.
Epilogue
Twenty Years Later
When we walked into the small room, Nathan nodded at Lance with a side smirk on his face. My heart clenched with that look. Because it was one he’d learned from his father.
Not the man currently serving a life sentence in a prison three states away.
No, the man standing beside me, holding me by my waist because he likely knew that I couldn’t stand up in front of by my own power.
In front of my firstborn mimicking his true father with a smile that we’d managed to tease from him. He was as handsome as Lance was when he did it too. My Nathan had grown into a man sometime when I wasn’t paying attention. Sometime when I was trying to wrangle twin girls and grow my business. Then move my whole family to our home on a ranch two hours outside of LA.
My life had not slowed down in the past twenty years.
Not a single bit.
It had started moving so fast, it would all be a blur if it weren’t for the man at my side, holding my hip, keeping me grounded. The man who bought me my ranch. Gave me my daughters. Gave our son that smirk on his face.
“Captain,” Nathan said, his deep husky voice thicker than normal.
I leaned on Lance even more and his grip tightened.
Nathan may have changed a lot since he was five years old. Grown at least a head taller than his mom. Gained some pretty impressive muscles to rival his father, shown that he was the best big brother and man I could have ever hoped to raise. Played in the NFL and moved to New England into some big fancy mansion with his girlfriend—soon to be wife—Samantha.
He’d changed so much that it took me a second to realize that this beautiful, talented man was my son.
He had never stopped calling Lance Captain. Not when he was going through—a thankfully very short—rebellious teenage stage when it might have been very uncool to refer to your father as a Marvel hero. Not when he graduated high school, or college.
Lance was always his Captain.
Today was no different.
“Son,” Lance said, his own low voice much thicker than usual.
Lance hadn’t changed a lot over the past twenty years. His hair was now grayed at the edges. He’d grown a mustache that he somehow pulled off in a big way. His face tanned with the work he did on the ranch, lined with the worry he always had about his teenage girls and the smiles they gave him. His muscles were still there, due to the fact he worked out every day.
He still didn’t say much to people that weren’t his wife or his children. Didn’t smile at those people either. But he was softer. He was no longer a hard edge. He smirked. He made dry jokes. He even laughed.
And he cried. On three occasions. Our wedding day. The day our daughters were born. And the day Nathan spoke about him in his college graduation speech. About his father, his Captain being his hero.
He didn’t mention Nick. Sandra. His parents. Not since he told me about them. But every Christmas Eve, we went to a diner in town, had a family dinner, and we lit a special candle we put out every year for that reason.
Rosie was right, that would always be a wound.
But there were no longer any fresh cuts.
“Proud of you,” Lance continued talking to the man in the tux, our son. Our son that was about to get married to his high school sweetheart. Money, fame and the fast life had not changed the way he loved Samantha or the way he treated her.
Lance taught him many of the things that made him treat her that way. I taught him others. I knew that my son would love that girl with everything in him. I knew he’d fight for her, protect her and work as hard as he could to make the marriage work.
My hopes were so very high for them. And I still had the ability to do that. Hope.
“We’re both so very proud of you,” Lance continued. “Know your mom isn’t speakin’ right now because she doesn’t have the ability since she’s runnin’ through your entire life in her head and is likely two seconds away from burstin’ into tears. Then she’ll yell at me for lettin’ her cry ‘cause she promised me to stop her from doing that ‘cause she’d ruin her makeup.”
I glared at him. “Which I’m doing right now,” I hissed.
He only smiled and kissed my head, which made me cry more.
“I’ll take over for a sec, Captain,” my son said.
I felt myself being passed between the two most important men in my life. Nathan’s lips pressed into my hair, that also had silver in it, artfully covered by my amazing stylist. “Proud of you, Mom,” he murmured into my head.
I tried to hold myself together and not sob into my son’s nice tux.
“You gave me this life,” he whispered. “You gave me the ability for all of this. I know you saved both of our lives. Not just that day you carried me out of a burning building, but the day you walked away with nothing but me. You were my age. I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to do what you did.”
I didn’t give a fuck about my makeup now. Lucy was somewhere in the house, and she was a magician with the stuff, she’d fix me before the ceremony.
“Yes you would,” I whispered, stroking my son’s smooth face. “We raised a beautiful, kind, strong kid, your dad and I. You would do exactly what I did and more. You will do more. I’m not talking about scoring more touchdowns or whatever.”
Nathan rolled his eyes. “Your son plays for one of the most famous teams in the NFL and still you know nothing about the sport.”
I grinned through my tears. “You know I’m very excited about all your successes. But I’m not talking about money or trophies. I’m meaning being a good husband. A father, when you’re ready.” I narrowed my eyes. My son was young to be getting married, but I supported that on the proviso he still lived some more of his carefree life before kids. That, and I was too young to be a grandmother. “You’re the best son I could ever ask for. You’re the one that saved my life.”
“Mine too,” Lance added, his voice that special, rare kind of soft. He laid his hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “Didn’t think I had a life to save, buddy. But you and your mom proved me wrong.”
Nathan bit his lip in a gesture that was so like my little boy and nothing like the man he’d become. I very nearly lost it right there, but my men helped me keep it together.
I stepped back, straightening Nathan’s tie and messing with his hair in a way that was little more than second nature to me. He didn’t flinch away from me as he usually did in adulthood, he stood there and dutifully let me do what I needed to do. And then, he broke my fucking heart by lifting his large hand and twirling some of my hair in his fingers just as he’d done when his hands were much tinier.
It wasn’t for long, the hair twist, most likely because he knew I
’d break down into a sobbing mess if he held our beautiful past in his fingers.
He let my hair go, I swallowed my tears.
Then I admired him. My boy.
My man.
“Alright, you ready for chaos?” I asked him. Because it’s a way of life for us.
He grinned. “Yeah, Mom. All I’ve ever known is chaos, and it’s all I’ll ever want.”
I bit my lip at this, to stop the tears. Nathan saw this, so he leaned in, kissed my head and murmured, “I’ll see you out there. Love you, Mom.”
Then he looked to Lance. “You’ll take care of her?”
I was immediately in my husband’s arms. “Always,” he promised.
And like the last twenty years, he didn’t break that promise.
Acknowledgments
Ah, where do I start when I talk about this book?
I feel like I always talk about how hard my books were to write here. How they drove me crazy. Tore out my soul. Took my heart hostage.
This book did all those things.
But it wasn’t hard to write.
Not at the start, at least.
The first half of this story poured out of me. My fingers could barely keep up. I hadn’t even intended on writing about Lance yet. Duke was meant to be next.
But you know what they say about best laid plans.
Lance was demanding.
Even though the words came quickly, the story came slow. This is unusual for me. I don’t really write slow burn. But it took me a while to learn who the characters were. To understand this story needed to be the monster it was.
I so hope you agree with me.
Now, let’s get to the people I have to thank.
There’s a lot of them.
I will always talk about how lucky I am in this part of my book. Because I am. I am so blessed to have a tribe of people around me who love me, support me, understand me. I know that not everyone has that. I know how rare it is.
Mum. You know the drill by this point. You are always here, right at the top. Because I would not be here, typing this, without you. You made me into the woman I am. You always support my good decisions. And you support my bad ones too. I know not everyone is as lucky as I am to have their mum as their best friend, and I count my blessings every day that I’ve got you. Thank you for always picking up the phone when I call. For understanding I get manic when I need to vent. For sending me chocolate from the other side of the world.
Dad. You can’t read this, but I know you’re somewhere, having a beer, watching over me. I miss you always.
Taylor. Life just continues to get better with you. We’ve been through what feels like a lifetime already. I’m so very grateful we found our way to each other. Thank you for being my best friend. For understanding that sometimes I have to watch makeup tutorials on YouTube to calm down. For knowing that Breakfast at Tiffany’s is my movie when I’m feeling blue. Thank you for not judging how much chocolate I eat, or that I eat it for breakfast.
Your strength, kindness and passion inspires me every day.
Forever and then some, babe.
Jessica Gadziala. You have been my constant support through so many meltdowns and dark periods of my life. You read this book when I freaked out and thought people would hate it. I cannot say how much it means to me to have you in my corner. You’re my #sisterqueen.
Michelle Clay. I don’t even know what to say about you. You are one of the most special people in my life. You do so much for me and many other people without expecting anything in return. You support me, cheer for me and help me through so much. I am forever grateful that my words brought us together.
Annette Brignac. Another woman who is one of a kind. Thank you for being in my life. Thank you for reading my books. I am honoured to call you a friend. You are one of the best people I know. My life would not be the same without you. To the moon.
My girls, Polly & Emma. You’re a whole world away from me and it breaks my heart. I miss you both every single day but I also know that no amount of time or distance will change our friendship. You two are my soulmates.
My betas, Sarah, Ginny, Amy and Caro. You ladies save me. Seriously. Thank you for reading my books when they are at their most raw. Thank you for helping turn them into what they end up being.
Ellie. Thank you for dealing with me. For editing this book. For not changing my voice. For being fucking amazing.
And you, the reader. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you. You are why I’m still here, creating characters, writing stories. You’ve made my dreams come true.
About the Author
ANNE MALCOM has been an avid reader since before she can remember, her mother responsible for her love of reading. It started with magical journeys into the world of Hogwarts and Middle Earth, then as she grew up her reading tastes grew with her. Her love of reading doesn’t discriminate, she reads across many genres, although classics like Little Women and Gone with the Wind will hold special places in her heart. She also can’t get enough romance, especially when some possessive alpha males throw their weight around.
One day, in a reading slump, Cade and Gwen’s story came to her and started taking up space in her head until she put their story into words. Now that she has started, it doesn’t look like she’s going to stop anytime soon, with many more characters demanding their story be told as well.
Raised in small town New Zealand, Anne had a truly special childhood, growing up in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. She has backpacked across Europe, ridden camels in the Sahara and eaten her way through Italy, loving every moment. She’s currently living London, loving life and traveling as much as humanly possible.
Want to get in touch with Anne? She loves to hear from her readers.
You can email her: [email protected]
Or join her reader group on Facebook.
Also by Anne Malcom
The Sons of Templar Series
Making the Cut
Firestorm
Outside the Lines
Out of the Ashes
Beyond the Horizon
Dauntless
Battles of the Broken
Hollow Hearts
Deadline to Damnation
The Unquiet Mind Series
Echoes of Silence
Skeletons of Us
Broken Shelves
Mistake’s Melody
Greenstone Security
Still Waters
Shield
The Problem With Peace
The Vein Chronicles
Fatal Harmony
Deathless
Faults in Fate
Eternity’s Awakening
Standalones
Birds of Paradise
Doyenne
