did the only thing I could… I went back to the gypsy and asked her to make me stop loving you. Instantly, I felt different. I stopped caring. I stopped feeling. And then you killed Maddox…”
She wiped away her tears and sniffled. “It makes sense now…”
“You fixed everything, but I didn’t feel the same way anymore. I didn’t want you anymore. But in time, you made me fall in love with you again. It wasn’t even that hard…because I’m supposed to love you.”
She reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “It’s because we’re soul mates…”
I looked at her with surprise. “You believe me.”
She nodded. “I don’t believe you. I just know it’s true. Now that I know everything you did to keep us together, to fight for me no matter how much pain it caused you…there are no words. I’m just so relieved that you’re here with me now, that you never gave up on me.”
Now I felt my own tears start in my throat. “It feels so good to tell you this. I wanted to say something before, but I thought you would assume I was crazy. I thought it would make it worse.”
She shook her head and squeezed my hand. “No…only made it better.”
All the weight was lifted from my chest, and I finally found peace. I’d worked my ass off for this woman, and she was finally mine. No one could ever take her away from me now, take away the love we had for each other. We were soul mates…we both knew it.
“The gypsy told you we would have two sons?”
I nodded. “Why?”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pregnancy test. “It looks like he’ll be here soon.”
Epilogue
Sofia
The sun had just set on the square of the bazaar, so the flames from the bonfires started to burn brightly. There was music coming from everywhere, followed by the sounds of clinking pots, camels moving around the area, and the occasional altercation.
My husband took me by the hand and guided me through the chaos.
My husband.
I could call him that again…and I would never take it for granted.
“You still know the way?”
He glanced down at me with a handsome smile on his face. “Baby, I know everything.”
I laughed then gave him a playful tickle on the side.
He didn’t react the way I would because his body was hard, with just muscle and skin.
He guided me around the fire dancers and cobras then took me down a separate alleyway that was much quieter than the rest of the bazaar. There was a pottery stand and a lone purple tent.
He pointed. “That’s it.”
When Hades had told me the story of the gypsy and the fortune she’d read, I believed it immediately. Throughout our entire relationship, I’d always felt like there was a swirling fog clouding my thoughts and restraining my true feelings. If that had never been there, I suspected I would’ve fallen in love with him on our first night in that hotel room.
But something had stopped me the entire time.
I distinctly remembered the day my heart started to ache with so much love that I thought it would burst. I went from simply respecting him to loving him a lifetime’s worth overnight. It sprang on me so quickly that my body couldn’t acclimate fast enough.
So, once I was in love…I was deeply in love.
I couldn’t imagine my life with anyone else. I couldn’t imagine taking another man as my husband. I was loyal and committed, even when I had no reason to be.
Because I always knew, deep down inside, that this man was my soul mate.
He stopped in front of the tent. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes.” I rose on my tiptoes and kissed him on the lips.
His arm nestled deeper into the curve of my back, and he placed his other hand on my small belly, where our second son was slowly growing inside me.
I pulled away first then strutted fearlessly into the tent. “I’m not scared of anything.”
He followed me inside.
A woman in a purple shawl sat there, covered in jewelry on her earlobes, on her neck, and her wrists. She was playing with a deck of cards, oblivious to the two of us. “I suspect this is the last time I will see you, Hades.” She grabbed all the cards and returned them to a neat stack then she lifted her chin to meet our gazes.