Page 90 of Redemption
“We have to get out of here,” Marco says. “This whole place is going to go up. DuFort started a fire, and it’s spreading fast.”
I grab DuFort’s hand, thankful he kept himself in good condition and that his height is close enough to mine. I slide my wedding ring onto it.
I squat down next to my foster sister and say a quick prayer. “Thank you for your loyalty and help, Destiny. I never wanted it to end like this, but I couldn’t have done it without you. May God bless you and keep you. Rest in peace, my friend. Rest in peace.”
Marco grabs me by the arm, and together, we charge out of the still room. When we reach the exit, an explosion rocks the building. Marco shoves me into the bushes, covering my body with his.
“Fuck, you’re heavy, big brother.”
Marco rolls off me. “And we’re both alive to tell about it.”
I look behind us, where the beautiful distillery building my wife loved more than anything but me and our daughter burns with licking flames.
She’ll forgive me for this.
Fire trucks roll into the parking lot with sirens blaring, and I know it’s the last time I’ll ever see this place.
Marco shoots to his feet and holds out a hand. “Let’s go home, brother.”
I take it and rise. “Yes, let’s go home.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
Keira
If I hadn’t seen them both leave the building on the security cameras, I’d be losing my mind right now.
I nearly lost it when I saw the man with a gun standing over my husband and that woman. In that moment, I wouldn’t have thought twice. I would have killed that man myself.
Who was she? Who was the woman who looked like me and lost her life?
It’s a question only my husband can answer, and I thank God my intuition told me to check the cloud for Seven Sinners’ security feed after I put Aurora down for a nap. I only caught the tail end of the disaster, but it was enough. Enough to know that my family’s distillery is likely a total loss, but my husband’s life—and his brother’s—were preserved.
That’s when it hits me. I know who she was. Destiny Jones. The woman who tried to kill me. She took a bullet meant for my husband.
The gratitude I feel for her sacrifice drowns out the pain of losing something I worked so hard to save.
It’s just a building. Just a company. Just whiskey. My parents and sisters will understand completely when I explain it all to them—soon.
All that is nothing compared to the value of life.
Knowing what I have to do next, I click the button that Lachlan built into my system by his own security expert. BURN SYSTEM—ERASE ALL CLOUD FILES PERMANENTLY.
And with a single click of my finger, all of the evidence of everything that happened today and every day at Seven Sinners is gone. Forever. Just like our past.
I don’t know what wakes me, but instantly, sleep fades from my mind, and I sit up in bed. He’s here.
I look around the room, and there he sits, in an armchair, facing the bed, watching me and Aurora sleep.
Carefully so as not to disturb our daughter, I slide out from beneath the covers and bolt across the room.
Lachlan rises and catches me as I fly at him. His strong arms wrap around me and clutch me to his body.
Tears pour from my eyes. “You’re safe. You’re safe, and you’re here, and you’re never leaving me again.”
“Never, Hellion. Never again. It’s over. It’s all over,” he whispers into my hair. “We’re free. It’s all over now. We’re free.”
I pull my face away from where my tears are soaking his fresh, tailored shirt. “Truly?”
