I would stand.
I would stand.
Then Logan was there, at my side, his arm sliding around my waist.
He leaned down, pulled the box from the case, and set the box on the desk. “I came here seven years ago with the one stone I had. I was going to offer it to you, promise my allegiance, and beg for the chance to give your daughter a good life. Now, I’m telling you. Take the stones, and I’m taking Aster, and we are never looking back.”
Confusion bound my father, and with a shaky hand, he reached out and slid the box the rest of the way across the desk. Carefully, he undid the latches.
He gasped at the twin stones set inside, his attention jerking up. “You’re just…giving it back? After all these years?”
Logan’s arm tightened around my waist. “The stones have always been yours, and Aster has always been mine. I no longer have any use for what does not bring us joy.”
Stunned, my father rocked back.
I swallowed around the rock lodged in my throat, and I shifted to take Logan’s hand in a show of solidarity, then I lifted my chin and said, “Goodbye, Papa.”
Because I was turning my back on this ugly world, and I would never see him again.
“Goodbye, mia vita.”
Together, Logan and I walked across the floor. The second we stepped out into the hall, Logan spun me around and gripped me by both sides of the face.
My beautiful man.
My dark defender.
My North Star.
He smiled down at me, pride and love gushing from his soul, and with the pads of his thumbs, he brushed away the tears I didn’t even realize were still falling.
“Run away with me, Little Star?”
“Running away with you is all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
His forehead dropped to mine. “Never look back.”
I curled both my hands around his wrists, my eyes dropping closed when I promised, “Never look back.”
EPILOGUE
LOGAN
“Where are you?”I called.
Giggles floated through the cool, evening air as footsteps rushed over the earth.
I followed them slowly, tiptoeing along, holding back the laughter that wanted to billow out as I hunted my sweet little thing.
“Why are you hiding from me?” I sang, popping my head around the trunk of a tree.
Megan squealed like mad from behind the bush where she squatted.
“I got to hides, but you found me, you sneaker!”
A chuckle rumbled up my throat, the child so goddamn adorable I hardly knew what to do with myself.
Discovered, she jumped up and came rushing out of her hiding place, the same place she hid every single time, mind you, lifting her little arms to me as she ran my way.