Page 71 of His Favorite Felon

Diane gushed over me, and she could not stop hugging and kissing me on the forehead.

“I’m just so overjoyed for you, Justice. You deserve every good thing that comes your way, baby, so take it all in. Soak up all this love we are pouring into you.”

I cried like the baby I was carrying. I was so emotional. As we were about to sit down for dinner, there was a knock at the door.

“Chance, can you get that, please?”

“Of course,” he said, glancing at me. “You know, if we leave Chy out of any family gathering, we’ll never hear the end of it.” I shook my head and waited for her dramatic entrance.

She held a cake box in one hand and lifted it into the air. “I brought dessert, and I hope everyone is prepared to see what my sister is cooking inside that belly of hers.

She made her way around the table. After she spoke to everyone, she sat next to me. “I want you to know you could have had the reveal of your dreams, but this is cute too.”

I laughed. “Shut up, Chy. I don’t have many friends or family, so this is perfect.” The rest of the night was filled with nothing but love.

When it was time to cut the cake, Diane gave Chance and me a wine glass. Chy had seen this trend where you basically stab the cake with your cup and scoop up your piece. Then she would count to three, and that was our cue to look and see what color the cake was.

One.

Two.

Three.

Everyone erupted in cheers as I looked at the pink cake. I didn’t really care about the gender. I only wanted it to be healthy and well loved. When I finally looked up because it got quiet, I noticed Chance was no longer in the seat next to me.

I turned to look behind me and dropped the cake-filled wine glass I was holding.

Chance was on one knee.

I knew this day was coming, but I assumed it would be years away.

“Trouble. Over the past seven months, I think it’s fair to say we turned each other’s worlds upside down. Through it all, there was one thing that stayed consistent, and that was the love I had for you. I can say with all certainty that I fell in love with you at first sight. I never wanted what my brother had, let alone pretend to be him, but for you. I’d do it all again. You have no idea how happy you make me, baby, and I can only hope and pray that you feel the same.

I admire your resilience, your sense of humor, your feistiness, and the way you don’t take shit from anyone, even me. I always wanted a woman who would challenge me and someone I could consider my best friend. And that’s you, Justice. I love you so much that sometimes it scares me, but I’m ready for the ride.” He paused to wipe the tears that had fallen from my eyes. “It’s okay to cry, but I need to see that beautiful smile of yours, too.”

I laughed, which caused a snot bubble to appear. I was a hot fucking mess, but I didn’t care because I was so happy.

“That’s better.” He chuckled. “Now, I have a very important question for you. I want you to know this is equivalent to signing up for Death Row, so choose your words wisely. Justice Kingsley Jr., will you do the honor of being my wife and spending the rest of my life beside me?”

“Yes! Yesss…” I wanted to say my own little speech in return, but the words escaped me and were replaced by more tears. He placed a beautiful princess diamond-cut ring on my finger, and it was simply gorgeous. I couldn’t stop looking at my hand because how was this my life?

For the rest of the night, we celebrated, and it was absolutely beautiful. Chy and Jamie went back and forth all night about names, and I just sat with my man as we watched our family become one.

October 23rd no longer felt bittersweet because the positives now outweigh the negatives. In a single day, I celebrated my birthday, learned I was expecting a mini-me, reconnected with a friend, and received a huge diamond ring from my man.

Life was good.

CHAPTER 29

Chance

DECEMBER 31ST

I was up early and out of the house before the sun rose. I had a few errands to run to close out the year. My first stop this morning was the Last Chance range to make sure the annual reports had been processed. We were closed today and tomorrow for the holiday, so I wanted to make sure everything was in order and ready for Andrew on January 2nd. As expected, he had already set everything up; I only needed to double-check and sign off on some papers.

Next, I stopped at my trap houses. I did a cash grab and made sure my men were straight. Every house was in tip-top shape, and everyone met their monthly quota. I spent most of my time counting the cash. It wasn’t that I ain’t trust them or the cash machines, but my eyes and hands work just fine. By the time I was finished, it was pushing five p.m.

I was still in the city when I got a call from a very panicked Justice.