"You." My father glared at Michael. "What the fuck? On what charge?"
"Thirteen counts of murder."
"You can't prove that," he said as he stood and struck out his hands.
"We don't need to prove thirteen. We only need to prove one. But thirteen is the number of bodies we got."
I swallowed hard. I'd put more than five times that into the ground in the last ten years. I knew one day they'd be coming for me.
But today wasn't that day. I just stood there gape-mouthed. "Father, what can I do?" I asked as I narrowed my eyes at Michael. I still had a part to play in all of this. In the family. I would never blow my cover.
"You need to call the family lawyer, son. And take over my duties. You've been trained. I'm sure this will all get cleared up soon." He pushed the hands of the FBI officer away. "I will come willingly. You don't need to touch me." His composure gained, he started walking down the hall. Then he looked at Michael. "You will pay for this. Don't fucking forget it."
"I look forward to it," Michael said in a sneer. He didn't even look at me. It was like I didn't exist in his mind.
But I relished the moment when my father was taken away, the moment I had been fighting for my whole life. It may not be because of all of the things he did to me, but it was still justice.
Now, we just had to make sure that we made it worth it. That we raised our children in a better world than the one we were raised in ourselves.
All I needed now was my woman at my side and I knew everything was going to be all right.
Kathryn
"How do you feel?" Janson asked me. I'd been back in the condo for a week and I still couldn't get enough of it. The fresh air, the view of the night sky. It was so gorgeous. I loved this part of Baltimore.
I loved anywhere that I could be with him.
"It's beautiful tonight," I said as I looked up at him. I'd put some rustic string lights up on the balcony and a few candles blazed in mason jars. It was just the right touch.
"You are beautiful tonight," he said. We had dinner delivered and were spending what was probably the last viable night outside before the weather turned.
"So it's all over?" I asked as I looked up at the stars. I could see Orion in the night, the sword blazing through a normally polluted atmosphere. It was the perfect night for stargazing.
"No, not yet. It's just begun. They have to get lawyers, go through processing, get a trial date, and then we'll see."
"Bond?" I asked.
"I've been told it won't be offered under any circumstances." He grabbed my hand and looked across the table at me. "But I don't want to talk about that tonight."
"You don't?" I asked.
"No, I want to talk about the baby. What did the doctor say?" he asked. I had another appointment today with a new doctor. The best one money could buy, Janson claimed.
"Everything looks great. I'm four weeks along, and they even checked. There is a heartbeat, Janson. A heartbeat." I smiled.
"Will you let me go now?" he asked.
"Yes. I'm sorry, I was just so scared. I didn't want it to be false and then have to see your face like that. I wanted to be able to have time to deal with it then tell you."
"I understand."
"We're going to have a baby," I said as I looked into his eyes. Nothing could be more perfect.
"We are," he said as he looked me over. "It's not going to be easy."
"Oh, I know. Joanna has informed me."
"How is she doing?" he asked.
"Well! She's been writing like a mad woman. I'm glad she's gotten back into the field. Writing textbooks seems like it is exactly what she needed. Greyson offered to provide care if she wanted to go back to school, but that isn't what she wants. She wants to stay home with Jessica and work on affordable textbooks for college kids."
"Sounds noble."
"I think she is going to be all right," I confirmed. "I think we are all going to be all right."
"We are going to be just fine." Janson stood and then got down on one knee. I knew what was coming, but I couldn't help but gasp.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"We are going to be more than fine," he amended as he pulled a small box out of his pocket. He opened it to reveal a ring. It was gorgeous. Princess cut with sapphires to accent. Exactly what I'd always dreamed about.
"Janson," I started, but he interrupted.
"Kat I've loved you from the first time I kissed you, I was just too stubborn to admit it. But I know now that I'll always want you. I'll always be there for you. But I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?" he asked.
"I will," I said. I held out my ring finger and bit my lip. I wanted this for us. For our family.
He would always be the one to me. No matter what. I was sure that with him next to me, everything was going to be all right.
"Great, now your brother can take the price tag off my head," he joked as he stood. "I love you, Kat."
"I love you, too." And I always would.
Epilogue
Kathryn
I stared at Janson as he walked through the door, a straight face his mask against the world, but not with me. I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was smiling.
"What happened?" I asked as I sat on the couch and looked up at him. I was just beginning to show, four months had flown by, and I looked up at him.
"It's not good for our fathers, I'm afraid. DNA evidence was found on two of the thirteen and they linked it to them. The other bodies were without, but the execution style and the markings they left all match up with the two confirmed cases."
"How did they find these bodies?" I asked, curious. It was me, but I wanted to know what the federal prosecutors were saying.
"Anonymous tip. I think they think it was Michael, but that man was never actually privy to that sort of information. He never rose that high. Still, my dad is convinced that he was snooping around."
"He was," I said as I looked at him. We were relishing this. It was sick, but it was so fucking deserved. They always said revenge was best served cold. Cold hard prison was pretty damn just.
"He was," he confirmed. "But it doesn't look good for them."
"What does Greyson think?" I asked.
"He's got a similar story for our father. Who is so angry that they've had to put him in solitary twice. Apparently your mother has refused to visit him."
I kept down a twisted smile, trying not to show just how satisfied I was with that claim.
"Do they suspect anyone for turning them in?" I asked.
"They have ideas, but nothing that I am aware of." We were being cautious. We promised never to admit the truth. Not even to ourselves. It was too easy for someone, anyone, to overhear. "So far, it's Michael and possibly Henry. They blame the Butcher for this."
"What happens next?" I asked.
"More of the same. Evidence gathering, waiting for trial, if it goes that far. They might get a plea deal, but it won't be good. Probably twenty to life with no death sentence," he explained. It sounded like a fair deal to me, more than they actually deserved. We wanted them behind bars, we wanted them away from us, but even in prison, they could run the family.
"Will they take it?" I asked. I didn't want any more deaths on my hands, but these were two men that deserved whatever they got.
"I don't know, but I do know that my father looked me in the eyes today and told me that I was in charge now. That it was my responsibility to be Greyson's right hand man. I'm guessing that means they have resigned to their fate." Janson still looked too somber to be happy, but I knew the potential was there.
"Did you tell him about the baby?" I asked.
"I did," he confirmed. He sat down next to me and put his arm around me.
"What did he say?" I asked.
"That I better fucking make an honest woman of you before James has someone murder me." He grinned. We both knew that he asked me weeks ago. I just looked down at my ring and smiled. I loved this man.
"I don't think that's a bad idea," I said as I grinned up at him. I'd wanted as far away from the family as possible once upon a time, but now Janson was my family. I couldn't think of anything I wanted more than to be with him for the rest of my life.
"Everything is going to work out. We have our whole lives ahead of us. We can make this family, this organization, anything we want," he said as he held me close. For him, that meant less murder, less corruption. A real, viable business. "I'll be there with you through it all. The good and the bad."