Page 74 of Pen Pal

“Finally,” she murmured, brushing her lips over mine.

I tilted my head, a slow smile spreading across my face. “You really thought I’d be done with you after just one visit?” I smirked, referring to our first conjugal visit last week.

She laughed, laying her head on my chest. “Not a chance.”

Epilogue

Amara

The prison lights were always blinding, no matter which room or hallway I entered. My eyes stung as I followed the guard down the long, winding halls of Ashwood Prison, twisting and turning like an endless maze. The white walls made everything appear like a landscape covered in dirty snow, with white clouds blanketing the sky and the sun still blinding. That’s how it felt in here, and I wished I’d brought my sunglasses and worn them indoors, no matter how oddly the guards would’ve looked at me.

How did they work here every day? How did the inmates not suffer from eye damage exposed to this daily?

My heels clicked on the concrete floor, echoing through the air, announcing my presence before anyone could see me. The air was stale and recycled, and it was always a little too cold.

The guard buzzed through another door, and I followed him warily. This prison always gave me the creeps when my husband wasn’t around.

My husband.

I smiled at the memory. I wasn’t sure exactly how Enzo got away with it, but he knew a judge who owed him a favor.

While I recovered after Mark’s last attack, Enzo sent out his men to run some errands. After they cleaned the whole place up, they came back with groceries and clothes for Enzo. They handed him a box before they left for the day, at his beck and call like always.

I drifted off to sleep, resting as much as I could, letting my body heal.

The scent of cinnamon stirred me from a deep sleep. I reached out instinctively, smiling when my palm met something solid and warm. I opened my eyes and saw Enzo lying across from me in my bed.

And he smiled at me.

I never saw him smile before. Smirk, sure, but a genuine smile? I didn’t think he was capable of such a thing anymore.

But he blessed me with one now, and it felt like the best gift anyone could ever give me.

His eyes trailed over my form, raking and hungry. I glanced down and noticed he was wearing a suit.

Why was he wearing a suit?

The cinnamon smell, I reminded myself. I lifted my eyes, slowly sitting up as my eyes swept over my room.

There were dozens of red candles around my room, placed on my dresser, nightstands, and even along the ground. Rose petals littered the floor, and helium-filled heart-shaped balloons floated to the ceiling.

“What’s all this?” I breathed in awe. No one had ever done something like this for me before.

He sat up, turning to me as he placed a small box in my lap. It was black and velvet, and my breath caught as I opened it.

A brilliant princess-cut diamond stood on a ruby-encrusted band, gold and shining like it was forged from the sun itself. Like he found his way to the heavens to find me a veritable treasure.

I looked up, and Enzo had moved closer, studying my reaction.

“I’m not a patient man, Amara. But for you, I’ll wait as long as it takes. If you’re not ready now, I’ll take you when you are,” he breathed. “I want you to bemine in all ways. You consume me, my little pen pal and I refuse to breathe if you’re not around. I can’t ask you to wait for me because my prison sentence is life. But I ask that you be with me in all ways, and when I decide to leave that cage for good, that you be there as my wife.”

I couldn’t breathe. Nothing else existed but him and his words floated around me like clouds, promising me my own personal paradise.

It had been months since I left Mark, and I stopped wearing my wedding ring then. After only a few months of my ring finger being bare, I already knew that I was ready to wear a ring again.

But not just any ring.Hisring.

“I already am yours,” I admitted. “But yes, I’ll marry you, Enzo.”

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