Page 127 of The Vow

I will always come back to you, Robber. I love you as ever. Forever.

Tears now burned bitter tracks down my cheeks.

Pat didn’t say anything else but quietly backed away toward his car now that his delivery was done.

“Pat,” I called, and he stopped and turned.

I didn’t want to stay here—didn’t want to be here.Herebelonged to a woman who’d loathed the man she’d tied her life to. A man she’d wanted to forget existed.

I wasn’t that woman anymore.

“Yeah, Robbie?”

“Can you take me home?”

His broad shoulders settled, a bittersweet kind of happiness passing across his expression.

“Yeah, Robbie.”

I turned, thinking to grab some of my things, and then it hit me that I had no things. Not really.

I gave up on having any pieces of a life the first time I’d lost him.

When I looked back, I saw Harm and Dare waiting in the shadows. As soon as they saw my face, they knew. Maybe they’d always known my place had never been here. As muchas I loved them, loved my family, my home had never been here.

I went to them, embracing each of them in the kind of hug we rarely shared but deeply felt.

“You know we’re always here for you, Rob. Whatever you need.”

“I know.” I drew back and looked at him with a smile. “Thank you for everything. Love you both.”

“You, too, Rob.”

I walked back to Pat and followed him to his car. For the first time in a very long time, I knew exactly where I belonged.

Two months later…

“I’ll be up in a minute, Nonna,” I called, hearing the sliding door open and then shut as I floated in the pool.

I wasn’t much of a swimmer, but since I’d returned to the house, I’d found solace in the nightly swims that Damon used to take.

“All right.” I sighed and opened my eyes, my pupils adjusting to the starry night…and the shadow approaching the pool.

That wasn’t Nonna.

Panic seized my chest. I still had nightmares about Shazad and Belmont even though I knew they couldn’t hurt me, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t made enemies in my quest for justice. And Damon surely had.

My feet sank to the bottom, water sloshing as I stood upright.

“Who are you?” I demanded, backing toward the center of the pool.

The shadow coalesced into a distinctly male form. A well-dressed male form with a fedora—“Is that any way to greet your husband, Robber?”

The smooth voice was like a light bursting through the darkness of the night. Its smooth tenor followed by the flash of his smile as the lights around the pool finally illuminated his face.

“Damon…” I cupped my hand over my mouth, my chest lurching.

He crouched by the edge of the pool, only the slightest wince giving away that he was still recovering.

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