Page 105 of Stay Little Fighter

I’m actually not sure what happened to his body during the cleanup. Ronan checked his pulse to make sure he was dead, and then we walked away to check on the rest of our family.

I nibble at my bottom lip, desperately clinging to my composure. I gave up on ever visiting my parents’ resting place a long time ago, mostly because I assumed their bodies were burned or thrown to the gators.

When Damon told me he convinced his father it was for the best that the Weavers be buried in the family plot for appearance’s sake, I broke down.

He spent so long convincing everyone around him that his heart was stone, and yet at every turn he was doing something thoughtful.

The car comes to a stop, but none of us move to get out immediately.

As excited as we are to get out of Miami, none of us want to rush this moment.

It’s too important.

“Are you ready, Duchess?” Damon asks, squeezing my hand.

I nod and allow him to help me from the SUV. I’m perfectly capable of getting out myself, but I am a little sore from my sprint through the city, and if I’m honest, I love having their hands on me.

Despite spending the whole drive preparing myself for this moment, nothing could have prepared me to see my parents’ headstones right beside Caroline’s, and Damon’s arm around my waist is the only thing that keeps me on my feet.

A sob tears from my chest, and I don’t bother trying to swallow it. The emotions rioting through my chest are too big to withhold, and I don’t have to do that anymore.

Not when I have four men who will catch me if I fall.

Kingston wraps his arms around me from behind while Ronan takes my other side as we stare at the final resting place of three of the most important people in our lives.

Being here hurts more than I ever could have imagined, but it also allows something deep inside to ease. I didn’t realize how badly I needed closure.

“Thank you for having them buried here,” I choke out through another rough sob.

“They belonged here with Mom,” Damon replies, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “And this way she didn’t have to be alone anymore.”

I turn my face into his shoulder and cry.

I cry for the person I was a decade ago when I watched my parents be killed.

I cry for the baby that never came into the world.

And I cry for the scared woman I was for all these years. Too afraid to live. Too afraid to love.

For a long time, I thought I’d never be happy again. I thought my heart was too broken to feel anything other than sorrow, but it turns out all I needed was the love of four men who would tear down the whole world if they thought it would make me happy.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

KINGSTON

NOW

Ryker hands me three bouquets of flowers he acquired in the last twenty minutes, and I don’t bother asking how that’s possible.

Some days I question whether he has some sort of magic I don’t know about, but it doesn’t really matter how he got them, only that we have them to lay on their graves.

The emotion clogging my throat is thick.

There’s so much I want to say, but none of it feels like enough.

I want to tell Caroline how sorry I am that I didn’t stick around to protect her all those years ago, but I also want to tell her how proud she would be of her boys and how beautiful their love for Chloe has become.

I want to tell Neil and Iris how sorry I am that I didn’t save them and that I’ll always protect their daughter. That I’ll love her through every single season life throws at us and give her everything she could ever want out of life.