it took him to reach out, be accepted, to expose himself to be a man with a big, open heart after all.
“Gone soft,” Freya teased. “Told ya.”
“It’s true,” he said.
“We can choose our own families,” I said. Held Abe’s gaze. “For me, that’s all of you.”
“Those Hawaiian shirts did help after all.” Freya sighed dreamily. “Because we got you, Sloane.”
I squeezed her hand, too overcome to say anything else.
“Every single one of us came to this place surviving a kind of betrayal,” Delilah said. “We were all searching for a place that would become a home.”
Home. I understood that word now. My parents had ripped it from me at an early age. And now another con artist—Bernard Allerton—had helped deliver me to Abe, this family, this new life. I stared at his mug shot one last time. Bernard was just a man who believed the world needed villains.
Codex was a team dedicated to the opposite.
Abe’s phone rang, which generally signaled a new case. Sam and Freya leaned forward in excitement. Delilah flipped open her notebook. Henry straightened his glasses with a knowing grin.
“What happens next?” I asked Abe.
His smile was full of promises. “We get the damn book back.”
Epilogue
ABE
My new priority in life was making my three-month-old daughter squeal with laughter.
Ruby and I had spent the better part of an hour on the rug, playing peek-a-boo, a game she never seemed to tire of. Every time I held my finger toward her, she gripped it, held tight, while staring at me with the same luminous eyes her mother had.
My heart had seen its last fortress. If Sloane had dismantled those bricks with her vulnerable beauty and endless charm, then Ruby was ensuring I was stripped bare for the world to see, every day. Soft didn’t even come close.
I scooped up my still-laughing daughter—whose curly hair was just like Sloane’s—and stretched out on the couch with her to nap. Ruby still fit perfectly on my chest, and as I rubbed circles into her small back, her steady, sleepy breathing calmed me.
As did the raven-haired goddess, strolling into our living room with a happy smile on her lovely face. She bent down, gave me a sweet, lingering kiss, and then curled up next to me. I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“What’s the source of this smile?” I asked.
“Your mother. And Jeanette,” she said. “We were planning their next trip up here to stay and help with Ruby. Your mother shared some very cute stories of you as a very serious little boy, Mr. Royal.”
“There’s work to be done, always,” I said.
She snorted because she knew that to be a lie. Sloane and I both worked incredibly hard at Codex—the whole team did—but the two of us had cheerfully handed in our workaholic membership cards to become a family. A real family. And that meant nights at home and weekends at the park and enjoying every single moment we had.
Our relationship had moved at warp speed, which aptly fit the unrestrained chaos of our love. Six months after meeting, I married Sloane on the beach in Miami. My mother was the proud officiant. Jeanette, Henry, and Sam stood next to me. Delilah and Freya stood with Debra, the incredible woman who had helped my wife secure her freedom.
Humphrey and Reggie walked Sloane down the aisle, of course.
My wedding ring was engraved with the words: I’m still here.
Sloane’s ring held the words: I’m not going anywhere.
One year later, we welcomed our daughter Ruby to the world. There had been not one moment of doubt or regret.
“It was a very nice phone call,” Sloane said, brow lifted. “In fact, she’s compiling additional adorable stories as we speak. Might even have Freya turn it into a video we can share at our next team meeting.”
“I’ll have to call in sick perhaps,” I mused.
She leaned down and pressed her face to Ruby’s back. “How is my favorite princess?”
“Still the world’s best princess,” I said, stroking Sloane’s hair. Holding these two precious beings to my chest gave me an unbelievable sense of tranquility. As had watching Sloane open her arms—slowly, but surely—to the love and trust available to her now. It had involved a lot of painful work, of shedding past fears and working through our vulnerabilities. We were doing it, every single day.
Thanks, in large part, to Ruby.
“Oh, Freya sent the pictures she framed for all of us,” Sloane said, reaching across the table for a package. “I want to hang them over the