Page 192 of Ruthless Claim

“Exhausted.” I reach over and stroke Seraphina’s dark hair. She doesn’t stir. “Sore. Deliriously happy.” I pause. “Is it always this terrifying? Loving someone this much?”

“Always,” Emma says, smiling gently. “It gets worse, actually. Wait until she smiles at you for the first time. You’ll be completely ruined.”

I let out a small laugh. “I’m already ruined.”

She laughs too. “Then you’re doing it right.” There’s a moment of silence before she shifts closer to me, pitching her voice low. “Any word on…?”

She doesn’t finish, but she doesn’t need to.

“Nothing,” I say quietly, feeling that icy ball of fear settle in my stomach. “Completely cold. Whoever hired Claire is still out there and we have no idea who they are.”

Emma’s already pale face goes even pale. “That doesn’t scare you?”

“It scares the shit out of me,” I confess as I look across the room at Cillian, who is holding Nora with one arm and talking to Leo.

They’re probably talking about security measures for the girls. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re discussing how tall their towers should be to lock up Seraphina and Nora.

“But I can’t live in fear,” I continue, my gaze still fixed on my baby. “None of us can. We have to be vigilant and smart and trust that we’ll see the next move coming.”

Emma follows my gaze. “You and Cillian are stronger now than you were before, you know. What happened with Claire—it could have destroyed you.”

“It almost did,” I whisper, my heart seizing at the memory of those dark times when I really thought I had lost my husband.

“But it didn’t.” She looks at me, her green eyes fierce. “That’s what matters.”

Across the room Cillian glances up, catches me watching him, and something passes between us that doesn’t need words.

He holds my gaze for a second before looking back down at Nora.

He adjusts his grip slightly, and I watch him press his lips to the top of her tiny head.

An arranged marriage.

A fake paternity claim.

Weeks of lies and hurt and distance and somehow we came out the other side of all of it with this—a room full of people we love, a daughter who already has her father’s stubbornness written all over her face, and a marriage that’s stronger for having been tested.

Whoever is still out there, watching and waiting—they’re still there.

I know that.

I feel it sometimes, that particular prickle at the back of my neck.

But tonight Cillian Brennan kisses our daughter’s head like she’s the most important thing he’s ever held.

They didn’t win. We’re still here.

Whatever comes next, we face it together. And this time, we’ll be ready.

EXTENDED EPILOGUE

Maksim

The christening is ending when Nikolai finds me.

I’ve been standing at the edge of the gardens for the better part of an hour, which is long enough to know that I should have left already.

The Brennan summer estate sprawls behind me with manicured hedgerows and climbing roses. There are old stone paths that wind between beds of lavender and white hydrangeas.