After handing over their recorded evidence to the police, and enduring months of questioning, flying back and forth from Colorado to New Jersey to meet with law enforcement official after law enforcement official, an amazing, mind-blowing trip to Shamalot to collect Toni, and a full-on investigation of every detail of their lives, Cormac, Toni, and Teddy had struck a deal with prosecutors for immunity.
Now all that was needed to close this chapter of their lives was their testimony to put Carmine, Stas, and his crew of foul thugs away forever. That day was today.
That night in the bar, when everything had finally come to a screeching halt, still came back in fits and spurts in Teddy’s dreams. The screaming, the gunfire, Dennis dead at her feet, the horrifying moment, suspended forever in her mind’s eye, when Nina was shot…all of it stuck to her like static cling.
But Cormac was also there, soothing her fears, talking it out with her as they helped each other to mend. And they were growing, learning, laughing.
His reunion with Toni was only one word in Teddy’s mind. Magical. Toni had cried when she’d flung herself at Cormac, cleansing tears of relief. He’d hugged her tight and then introduced Teddy as his girlfriend, and Toni had introduced her fiancé Iver.
And they’d laughed, cried, talked about their parents, reminisced about when they were kids—healed.
If in her wildest dreams, she ever thought it possible to step into a fairytale, stepping into Shamalot had fulfilled every expectation. It was all the things little girls imagine and more, and meeting Toni for the first time had been about as perfect as perfect could get.
She was still adjusting to a giant blue ogre, and Toni’s fiancé, Prince Iver, who made her giggle endlessly with his curiosity about all things Jersey and modern-day contraptions and his pattern of speech, wherein he called her Lady Theodora.
As the courtroom stirred and the judge took the stand, Teddy gripped Cormac’s hand, looking down at the missing digit—a stark reminder of why they were here to begin with. The last thing she wanted to do was get up in front of a bunch of people and be hammered one more time about the events of that night. But she’d do it because it helped Cormac and Toni.
Testifying today brought up all her old insecurities, all the old questions about her character and how strong she really was, if she could have stayed with Dennis as long as she had.
Stas scared the hell out of her in the same way Dennis did, and now the chance to tell the world was at her feet. But she felt intimidated and small. Exactly the way Dennis had made her feel.
No. She remembered Nina’s words after a long Skype call. That was the way she’d allowed him to make her feel, and she wasn’t ever going to allow anyone a repeat performance. Who was smaller than Dennis, Nina’d asked her? A man who’d verbally assaulted her time and again and then beat the living hell out of her because he couldn’t have what he wanted? Nina repeatedly reminded her she was a strong, confident woman, and no one could take that unless she let them.
When Cormac was called to the stand, Toni leaned over and winked at her, gripping her cold fingers, her smile warm and so confident when she whispered, “You got this, Teddy. This is the beginning of your future—free and clear. Now, chin up, chest out, head held high. Always be the hunter, honey.”
Always be the hunter.
Teddy gripped Toni’s hand and squeezed when Cormac took his place on the stand before the microphone.
Nina’s words from outside the courtroom just moments ago replayed in her head. We’ll be right outside, Teddy Bear. All of us. You need us, you say the word. But you won’t need us, kiddo. Because you’re a mighty bitch who’s a badass with a dart gun who helped take down a goddamn mobster. Nobody fucks with bitches like that.
Yeah. Nobody fucks with bitches like that.
She heard the bailiff swear Cormac in and held her breath.
“Do you, Cormac Vitali, solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”
“I do,” he said, looking directly at Teddy, his voice strong and clear.
And that was when Teddy felt the surge of power, the one she’d struggled so long to recapture, sizzling through her veins, spreading through her limbs, re-centering itself right back where it belonged.
At her core.
With her chin up, chest out, and her head held high, Teddy prepared to walk into the beginning of her future with Cormac and her new friends.
Because she always wanted to be the hunter. Strong and sure—with Cormac hunting right beside her—forever.
Epilogue