Page 92 of A Wife's Duty

“You messed with the wrong man,” Boone said.

“You know, we could settle this,” Enzo said.

“Or, we could just settle this.”

And before anyone could react, Boone had sent a bullet straight into her father’s head. At first, Lucia couldn’t believe it. One moment she had been panicking, and the next, Boone had taken care of it.

Rushing to the panel, she quickly pushed the “exit” button, and the panic room opened. Boone was already there, and she fell into his arms.

“You came back,” she said.

“Of course I came back.”

“Frank,” Lucia said, pulling away from him.

Within minutes they had Frank out of the room, and Boone was already working on him. Lucia didn’t know what was happening, but Ronald had arrived, as had an ambulance.

She followed them down, and Boone with Ronald’s help, loaded Frank into the ambulance. Her head was starting to pound, and she turned to look at Boone.

Men were already starting to clean up.

“Is he going to be okay?”

“Frank, hell, yeah, he is going to be fine,” Boone said.

“I thought he was going to die,” Lucia said, tears filling her eyes. “My dad had come to kill me. How did he know where I was?”

And then Boone told her. She had a small tracking chip inside her.

Lucia touched the back of her neck. “He microchipped me?”

“That is what your brother said.”

“My brother?”

“Your family is dead,” Boone said. “I don’t know if this is the right time to ask you, but you have a choice, Lucia.”

She looked at him and waited.

“I can provide you with a new identity, money, a new life, and you never have to look back to the past. You can live your life the way you want. No one will come for you. Or, you can have a new identity and live with me. I don’t think I ever told you this, but I would love to have a family. To be away from all this crap, to have a loving wife, to raise kids, to have some dogs, maybe some cats. Also, before you make your decision, I think you should also know I am in love with you. I have been in love with you for a very long time.”

It was magical. Covered in blood, after fearing death, all she wanted to do was hold Boone, and she wished she had told him how much she loved him.

“I love you too,” Lucia said, and then threw her arms around him.

“Do you choose me?” Boone asked.

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, I choose you. I will always choose you.” She cupped his face. “Besides, I’m your wife, and isn’t it a wife’s duty to always stand by her husband?”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard. She just wanted to be in his arms, loving him, not going anywhere else.

Boone pulled away, and they walked back into their home.

“Do you want to come and meet the pups?”

“Hell, yeah, I do!”

Epilogue