Page 151 of Sadistic

"I have a good teacher."

The rest of the day passes in a blur of room service, bad movies, and spectacular sex.

We don't talk about Olyvar or houses or the future.

We just exist in our bubble, pretending the outside world can't touch us.

But as night falls again, I can see the wheels turning in Doran's mind.

Planning, strategizing, preparing for whatever comes next.

"Hey," I say, pulling his attention back to me. "Whatever he wants, we'll handle it."

"You sound sure."

"I am." I trace the wedding band on his finger. "We survived Bembe. We survived our own stupidity. We'll survive your brother."

"Our stupidity?"

"You with your decision making without me. Me with being pissed at you for so long." I kiss him. "We're past that now."

"Are we?"

"We better be, or this marriage is going to be exhausting."

He laughs, pulling me on top of him. "It's going to be exhausting anyway. But good exhausting."

"Is there such a thing?"

"With you? Yes."

In two days, we'll go back to Jacksonville.

We'll look at houses and face whatever my brother wants.

We'll start building our life together, complicated as it may be.

But tonight, we're still in our honeymoon bubble. Still learning each other, still figuring out how to be an "us."

EPILOGUE

Doran

Three Months Later…

I wake to cold sheets and the sound of water running in the bathroom. 6:47 AM according to the clock—Revna has her Constitutional Law seminar at eight, which means she's already behind schedule.

Three months of marriage and I've learned her rhythms.

The way she hits snooze exactly twice before panicking about being late.

How she leaves her coffee mug in random places around our bedroom.

The fact that she talks in her sleep when she's stressed about exams.

Last night it was something about "jurisdictional precedents" and "fuck the commerce clause."

Even unconscious, my wife has strong opinions about law.

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