A few minutes later, the car stops by the plane’s stairwell.
The passenger door flies open, and Cecily nearly throws herself outside. She runs to me, panting, her breath caught, and her face so pale, I can see the veins.
She grabs my hand in hers, tears gathering in her big green eyes. And while I’m over the moon that she’s touching me, I don’t like the tears.
“Why haven’t you told me?” Her voice is brittle and so fucking sad, it cuts me open.
“Told you what?”
“That you’re sick. You’re dying?” She all but bursts out crying, her tiny frame shaking, her choked breathing filling the air.
Ilya steps out of the car next, looking absolutely calm.
“I’m dying?” I mouth.
“I had to do something. It’s boring to watch whatever foreplay this is.” Then he takes the stairs and gets on the plane.
“You could’ve told me.” She wraps her arms around me, her body molding to mine as she cries her eyes out. “I wouldn’t have been so cruel. I would’ve spent as much time with you as possible.”
I wrap my hand around her back, relishing the feeling of her pliant body against me.
Fuck.
It’s been so long that I wish time would stop at this moment.
“Does that mean you forgive me?” I go with Ilya’s stupid plan.
“I think I forgave you a long time ago.” She digs her nails into my back.
“Then why were you giving me the cold shoulder?”
“Because I was scared of getting hurt again, because you’re the only one who’s able to hurt me.”
“I won’t hurt you, Cecily.” I tug her away so that I’m staring at her tear-streaked face. “You’re the fire to my icy heart, and while I loathed that at the beginning, I soon came to the realization that I can’t survive without that fire. My feelings for you are nowhere near conventional. They’re neither proportional nor measurable, and that heart you melted and the emotions you provoked belong to you. I’d rather be smashed and broken to pieces with you than be whole without you. I’d rather remain a beast for you than become a man who has to survive without you.”
“Oh, Jeremy…” Her hand strokes my cheek. “Why haven’t you said any of this before?”
“You never gave me a chance.”
“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I let my fear keep us apart.”
“Does that mean you’ll love me again?”
“I never stopped, idiot.”
“Even if I’m dying?”
She cries harder. “Don’t say that! Medicine is so advanced these days, and there’s surely a solution.”
“You’d love a man with a few months to live?”
“I wouldn’t have any other man.” More tears. More sniffles.
I grab her face and kiss her mouth deeply, and she grabs onto me as she welcomes me home. Her body falls into mine, and everything in her melts.
I kiss her for all the times I couldn’t kiss her. I kiss her until we’re breathing each other in.
When I pull back, I whisper against her mouth, “I’m not dying, Lisichka”
She blinks a few times. “But Ilya said—”
“He lied to make us get back together.”
“What about the plane? Aren’t you going to a private clinic in Switzerland?”
“I’m flying home to visit my parents, then I was planning to come back.”
Her cheeks turn a deep shade of red as she steps back. “Oh.”
Before she can escape, I grab her by an arm around her waist. “Are you taking back everything you said now that I’m not dying?”
She meets my eyes and shakes her head. “I meant every word.”
“Really?”
“Really. I’ve wanted to talk to you for some time, but every time I get close, I get scared and retreat. I’m glad Ilya gave me this push, even if he is a damn liar.”
“Me, too.” I kiss the top of her head. “Want to come home with me? My parents have wanted to meet you for some time.”
“They…they have?”
I nod.
She grins and tucks a stray silver strand behind her ear. “I would love to.”
My lips find hers again, and she squeals as I pick her up and carry her in my arms.
Cecily Knight is officially mine.
Now.
In the future.
Forever.
EPILOGUE 1 — CECILY
TWO WEEKS LATER
I might have come in a bit of haste to Jeremy’s house.
Not only did I not pack anything and then had to buy all my necessities here, but I also had to call Mum and Papa while I was on the plane, to which there was some drama, from Papa’s end, of course. He accused Jeremy of kidnapping me, and when I assured him that wasn’t the case, he said that he was keeping his eyes on him, then added, “One day, I’ll get some dirt on you, boy.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. I’ve been doing that a lot since Jeremy kissed me and carried me onto the plane.
These past two weeks have been no different than a honeymoon. His parents welcomed me to their home and were heartwarmingly accepting. His father still appears a little scary, though. But when Lia, Jeremy’s mother, is around, the edge lessens a bit.
The other day, Anni and Creigh came over after spending a few weeks with Creigh’s parents and we went to the beach together.
Jeremy nearly drowned some guy for daring to touch my arse, though. I thought Creigh would help stop him, but he was picking his own fight with a man who was looking at Anni, and then he basically covered her up with a towel.
Good times.
I think Creigh is jealous of me because Adrian likes me while he’s still struggling for his approval.
“You took his precious little daughter,” Jeremy told him as he hugged me to his side. “Cecily is joining his family. It’s different.”
“I can join his family.”
“Wouldn’t work. Still different.”
That’s when it dawned on me—I’m really going to join the Volkov family. I mean, not in marriage or anything. It’s still too soon to think about that.
But as long as I’m with Jeremy, I’m part of all the security, the scary guards dressed in black—seriously, I have a deep appreciation for Ilya now—and everything in between.
I fell in love with a mafia prince.
And I’m still coming to terms with the fact that killing without remorse is part of who he is.
That, in a few years, he’ll be like his dad.
Like Ilya once told me, either I accept him the way he is, or I let him go. Since I can’t physically be without him, I’ll have to get used to this part of him.
Seriously, during Glyn’s birthday, when I looked out the window and didn’t see him lurking under the tree like the usual stalker, my heart squeezed so harshly, I thought I would certainly have an attack.
For a moment, I believed he saw me talking to Lan and went back to his earlier convictions about how I’m cheating on him, but mostly, what really hurt was thinking he’d left for good.
I was so used to him shadowing my movements, being everywhere, and even making friends with my grandfathers. No kidding. Grandpa Calvin was asking about him whenever I went to visit until I acted butt-hurt and asked who the grandchild was between us.