Consequence

by Rachel Higginson

  “Then let’s not talk about what I already know,” he said gently. “Instead, let’s call this an exit interview.”

  I looked at him in a whole new light. Sayer had already had his interview. Actually, everyone had already been interviewed. I was spoken to last to give Juliet time to calm down. Now, here we were. After all this time, after our long history of cat and mouse, we were finally at the end of our relationship.

  “Okay,” I whispered, ready and grateful to end this. And grateful to Mason for all he had done for Sayer and me.

  He tossed his pen on the table and leaned back in his chair, looking completely relaxed for the first time since I’d known him. “You’re heading back to Colorado today?”

  “At the earliest opportunity,” I told him honestly. I was done lying to Mason, done manipulating him and evading him. We could be honest now. We could even be friends.

  Maybe.

  Okay, that was probably pushing things too far. I would settle on not being enemies.

  He raised an eyebrow. “And you’re never coming back?”

  “That is the plan.” I smiled. “Never ever again.”

  He smiled too. “Are you glad it’s over?”

  “More than you will ever know.”

  He shook his head, disagreeing, but it was gentle and friendly. “No, that’s not true. I know. And I’m glad it’s over too.”

  I thought of Bear taking over leadership and what he could do with a skeleton collection of men, but I didn’t mention that to Mason. Maybe I wasn’t one hundred percent done lying to him.

  “We’ve been through a lot,” I commiserated instead.

  He held my gaze. “We’ve been through hell.”

  The weight of our pasts pressed down on my shoulders, feeling like a million pounds that I wasn’t strong enough to hold. “True.”

  “You deserve some happiness, Caro,” Mason said, and it sounded sincere. “You deserve the freedom you’ve worked so hard for.”

  “You too,” I told him. Our freedoms had different definitions, but I knew he’d been working for a version of one too. Whatever had made him so singularly focused on the bratva was dead now. He could move on. He could live his life free of that burden.

  His eyes crinkled with sadness and I second-guessed myself. Maybe his loss meant that there would never be freedom. Justice maybe. But not freedom.

  “Be safe,” he said in a deep voice. “Stay out of trouble.”

  I smiled, and it felt like I’d never smiled before. “For the rest of my life.”

  “And keep an eye on your dad, okay? I don’t want to hear about him ever again.”

  I stuttered, my heart jumping in my chest. “M-my dad?”

  “Sayer said you’d keep an eye on him. That’s probably a good idea.” He paused for a second before leaning in to say, “You know there is a rumor going around that he’s the reason the Volkov gave you Juliet back when they did. He bargained himself for her sake.”

  Warmth bloomed in my chest and spread to each of my limbs. Sayer had always hated my dad. Hell, I had always hated my dad. I supposed we all needed new beginnings. Sayer had gotten one and I had gotten one and now we’d let my dad try.

  Frisco would be better for him. Maybe the mountain air would clear his head and give him a new perspective on life. Plus, there was Juliet. He’d saved her. Now maybe she could save him.

  I softened thinking about him working hard to get Juliet back to me. “The first bet he ever won,” I murmured, more to myself than to Mason.

  We sat there in thoughtful silence for another minute before I asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me about Atticus?”

  His eyes twinkled again, banishing the pain and sorrow from his past. “He was found dead in his house a few hours ago. We’re investigating the circumstances now. We suspect a totally unrelated cartel was involved, but if you have any information that you’d like to—”

  “No,” I answered. “I have no idea what happened.”

  He nodded. “I didn’t think you did.”

  After another prolonged silence, I said, “You’re a good agent, Mason Payne. I obviously have no respect for you, but I’m sure your coworkers do.”

  The corners of his mouth lifted and he held my gaze. “You’re a good thief, Caroline Valero. And sometimes a good person. I obviously, have no respect for you either, but I’m sure there are people out in this world impressed by what you can do.”

  I laughed at this game we were playing. “Make sure you keep those Russians locked up. You know, to prove how good you are at doing your job.”

  He winked. “I will. Now that I have that decoy file back, it will make this court case go a little smoother.”

  “Decoy?”

  “Did I say decoy? I meant the one with the tracking device in it.”

  Shaking my head at him, I asked, “Should I take credit for your deviancy? Or does it come naturally?”

  He rapped his knuckles on the table before standing up. “Oh, I’ve probably learned a few things along the way, but I can’t let you take all the credit.”

  “No, you probably can’t.”

  He walked me to the door and led me to my family and friends. We gathered our things and left Mason Payne behind for the last time. After the quickest stop at Sayer’s house to grab Juliet’s favorite blanket, we headed straight for the airport and bought the first available tickets to Denver.

  We were searched by airport security and given about a hundred dirty looks because of our appearance, but none of that mattered. We were going home and that was all I cared about.

  I had no idea what happened to the weapons that Sayer, Cage, and Gus had used. But they were gone now, and Juliet was asleep, and I was sitting next to the man I loved on a plane headed straight home.

  I leaned against Sayer’s shoulder with the unbruised side of my face and curled into him. “Thank you,” I whispered. “For getting our daughter back and taking us home alive.”

  He kissed the top of my head tenderly. “I’ll always come for you, Caro. You’re going to have to make it clear to me if you ever want me to stop. Because I can’t.” He pulled back so I would look into his striking blue eyes reflecting nothing but truth and honesty and the depths of his soul. There were no secrets left for him to hide. “I don’t know how to let you go.”

  “Don’t,” I pleaded with him, emotional tears pushing at my eyes once again. “Please don’t ever stop. Please don’t ever leave. I love you, Sayer. I will always love you. Whatever happened in our past, whatever is in our future, it’s you and me forever.”

  His face gentled, warmth and satisfaction washing over his features. “Forever, then,” he promised. “This is the beginning of our forever.”

  He sealed it with a kiss, pressing our lips together in a way that was soft and careful because of my injuries, but also ferocious and permanent. This man was everything to me. He was my friend and lover. My savior and soulmate. He was the beginning and the end. He was the reason for everything and any hope I had in the future.

  We had a rocky, rough past. But we had a beautiful future ahead of us. There would be no more danger, no more fear… no more lies or deception or cons. It was just him and me for the rest of our lives—and Juliet of course.

  And I had never been happier.

  I had never been more confident in my choices and in the man I loved. I had never been more confident in the future he would give us.

  He was my constant, the rock that everything else was built. And I loved him more than I ever knew was possible.

  We had made bad choices. We had paid the consequences of our dangerous lives. But now we would live in the constant freedom of this love we’d carved out for ourselves.

  The confidence game was over. The rest of our lives would be lived in truth.

  And love.

  And on the right side of the law.

  Epilogue

  Sayer

  Five Months Later

  There she was. Barefoot, pregnant and more beautiful
than I had ever seen her.

  Caroline Valero was mine, finally, eternally, truthfully. And she was carrying my son.

  I didn’t get to see her pregnant with our first child and I had been too naïve to know what I’d missed. Her swollen belly was the loveliest sight I had ever seen. She glowed like this, shined.

  I couldn’t keep my hands off her. I was insatiable for her, like I could somehow give her more children while she was pregnant with one already.

  She smiled at me from the bar where she chatted with Francesca and Cass, my bartender. She’d made this restaurant her second home after we’d landed back in Frisco. She mostly harassed Cass and angered my customers by making their drinks take forever, but I figured they could deal with it. She was in my space, she was near me, and I could take her down to the office anytime I wanted. Everyone else could fuck off.

  We’d closed three hours earlier than usual and the serving staff was finally filtering out. I had told her that I’d invited our friends over for a party. Juliet, our daughter, had taken her grandpa’s hand and walked him through Gus’s installations. For as much grief as that man had caused me in my life, Colorado seemed to suit him.

  Or maybe it was the grandpa life. He doted on Juliet in a way he never had with Caroline. I had asked her a few weeks ago what she thought of her dad’s transformation. She had smiled sadly and changed the subject.

  I knew it hurt her to see that he could be a good man, that he could be honest and clean and adoring when he had been none of those things to her. But she wouldn’t covet her daughter’s happiness. And she was too content to hold it against her dad now.

  Besides, she had me to protect her should Leon Valero go back to his old ways. Although, from the haunted look in Leon’s eyes, I knew that he was a changed man. The five years without Caro had worn him down, had destroyed that last bit of recklessness in him. He never talked about his life in the bratva, none of us did, but whatever had happened while he was there alone, had been enough to scare the bad out of him.

  Gus appeared at the top of our staircase. He had been quieter than usual these past few months. Atticus’s death had been more difficult than he had imagined and he’d been sorting through unwanted emotions and anger.

  He’d been the same way after his dad had died. This was a man that hated the family connection he was forced to face. The two men he hated most in life were dead, but he was left with the consequences of his actions.

  He’d get over it eventually. For now, we all gave him the space he needed.

  Frankie too had struggled to move on. It wasn’t that she wanted to go back to the life, more that she didn’t know what to do with herself now that she didn’t have to live in hiding.

  Her uncles had suffered through their individual trials, each receiving multiple life sentences. They were transferred to separate maximum-security prisons. Aleksander died shortly after arrival. He’d been beaten to death.

  We weren’t exactly surprised at the news, but it had unsettled each of us. Frankie had been called back to DC by his estate lawyers and learned that she’d inherited a large amount of money from him.

  When Frankie came back, she was different… quieter… more thoughtful. I knew Mason Payne had escorted her from the airport to the meeting and back to the airport again, but she’d been tightlipped about her trip.

  Caro had told me Frankie was planning to give her money to charity, but she hadn’t done that yet either.

  Other than our friends and their issues, Caro and I had never been better. We were a real family now, free of the chains of our past and the restraints of the brotherhood.

  We had each other. And we had our children. And that was all either of us needed.

  I had no idea that this kind of happiness existed or that I could feel this free. I was comfortable and we were secure. And this was as blissful of a life as I had ever known.

  Somehow, through all of my screw-ups—including trauma and a lifetime of sins—I had managed to get the only thing in life I had ever wanted. Caroline Valero.

  And as soon as possible, I planned to make her Caroline Wesley. Or, rather, Smith, as our aliases were still very much necessary.

  Maggie walked in the restaurant and gave me an assessing look. I smiled and waved her in. She still didn’t totally trust me, but I got the feeling that Maggie didn’t totally trust anyone. And that was okay. I had a lifetime to prove to her that I was a good enough man for Caroline.

  I wasn’t going anywhere.

  Now that the gang was all here, I made my way over to Caro. Frankie saw me coming and found an excuse to leave. Cass did the same thing, fleeing to the other side of the bar.

  Caroline looked up at me as I took my place by her side and smiled. “Hey, you.”

  “Hey.” I gave into the urge to run my finger down the side of her face. “You look beautiful tonight.”

  She made a face at her swelling belly. “Liar.”

  “No,” I insisted. “Never again.”

  Her smile beamed, and adoration warmed her eyes.

  I pulled out a ring box I had been holding onto for years and set it on the bar by her hands. “I’ve been meaning to give you something for a while now.”

  She looked down at the square black box. Her fingers started trembling and my chest pinched with emotion at the honest way she lived now. She didn’t try to hide her emotions any longer. She didn’t lie and manipulate and deceive. She just lived. Genuine and totally honest.

  “What is it?” she whispered.

  I nudged it toward her. “Open it and see, Six.”

  She looked up at me, her eyes already watering and I couldn’t help it. I leaned down and kissed her passionately on the lips. When I pulled away the box was in my hands and I had it open for her.

  She stared at the simple platinum ring that had my reason, my constant engraved in tiny cursive on the band and I started to worry that it was too simple, too plain.

  I should have gotten a diamond. I should have let her secret stash of stolen goods inspire me to go bigger, flashier. I should have made it more extravagant—

  “Sayer, it’s beautiful!” she gasped. “It’s absolutely perfect!”

  Relief and joy washed through me and I had to lean against the bar when my knees buckled from the force of it. “Marry me?” I asked her.

  Tears streamed down her exquisite face and she started nodding excitedly before she could speak. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, please.”

  I slid the ring on her finger while our friends and family cheered behind us. Before she could turn to them, I hauled her to standing with an arm wrapped around her waist and kissed the daylights out of her. Our friends cheered louder. Juliet ran over and hugged our legs, making our family complete.

  And my heart beat in time to the excitement. Caroline was mine. She would always be mine. But more importantly, I was hers.

  When we finally pulled back, she laid her hand tenderly against my jaw and stared at me with the biggest eyes I had ever seen.

  “You’re my reason. For everything,” I confessed. I kissed the corner of her mouth and whispered, “And my constant. I love you, Six. And I love this life of ours.” My voice trembled with emotion, but I let it. I was also living these days open and utterly honest.

  “I love you too, Sayer,” she promised. “Always. Forever.”

  They were the truest words I’d ever heard. The words that healed and mended and made everything else in this life of mine worth it.

  We were together at last. The way we were meant to be. And there was nothing left in this life I wanted other than this. She had given me everything. And she had made me a better, more worthy man in the process.

  I had lived through hell to get to paradise. But it was worth it. For her, it would always be worth it.

  Thank you so very much for reading Consequence! I so appreciate your time and love of this story and these characters. Constant was originally developed to be a standalone story, one that I had wanted to write for years. But for
various reasons, and even obnoxious insecurities, I hadn’t found the time for it yet. To my surprise, when I finally gave myself the freedom to write Caro and Sayer fully, it turned into a bigger, deeper, more epic love story than I had originally planned.

  And so the standalone became a duet, Constant got a companion in Consequence, and as a writer, creator, storyteller, I could not be more pleased with how everything turned out. I have loved giving this world and these characters two full books. I have loved digging into this criminal underworld, creating heroes out of villains and giving these two soulmates a second chance. They have been some of my most favorite people to write about, and this world, even while requiring a massive amount of work and research, has been a wonderful labor of love.

  So thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me through book two, thank you for giving up your valuable time to spend it with one of my books and thank you, dear readers, for your endless support and encouragement. You are some of the best people on the planet. And I could not do this dream job of mine without you.

  I hope you enjoyed this duet enough to check out some of my other books! And please look for The Problem with Him, my next contemporary standalone, coming June 2018.

  The Problem with Him, Opposites Attract book 3, coming June 2018.

  I’m over men.

  I’m done with them.

  Or at least the ones that work in my kitchen. Fine, one man in particular. Wyatt Shaw is cocky and condescending and so far out of his element that he doesn’t know which way is up. Or how to run his brand new kitchen all by himself.

  That’s where I come in. Sous chef extraordinaire. Second in command. Bane of his existence. I am the reason Wyatt’s doing so well as the new executive chef of one of our city’s most prestigious restaurants. He has me to thank for his glowing accolades and five-star write-ups. Only if you were to ask him, he’d say I’m his biggest problem.