J

I tried keeping myself distracted, but it was difficult. Lisa was out with Joshua, Wonwoo, and Nickhun.

They were hunting my father. They had a few leads to track down, and I knew I wouldn't hear anything until they showed back up with my father in tow. That didn't help my anxiety. Thankfully the girls were trying to distract me.

It was hard to believe it was only a week ago that I killed Taehyung. It felt like my entire life had been leading to that one moment, and now that it passed, I didn't know what to do with myself.

The PTSD still lived inside me. Whenever a door slammed too hard, or someone yelled, my body automatically tensed. The only time I felt truly safe, even in the clubhouse surrounded by brothers and my friends in the other old ladies, was when Lisa was next to me. She couldn't be there all the time though.

I knew it would get better. It would take years to properly heal after what Taehyung put me through for the years of our "marriage". There was no death record for him. His body would never be found. No way in hell I reported him missing either, so that meant I could never marry Lisa.

That was what I thought anyway, but Jack was on it. He was making it look like my marriage never existed, getting rid of all electronic traces of the paperwork. That meant when Lisa and I decided to get a marriage license, we could.

I had no idea when she was going to propose, but something told me it was going to be sooner rather than later. It didn't matter. In my heart, I always belonged to her, even when I was legally bound to Taehyung. No piece of paper is going to change anything. But I know Lisa, and I know she's going to want to bind herself to me in every possible way.

I got my period, so I wasn't pregnant. But we were going to keep trying. she loved Holden and Olive like they were her flesh and blood too, but I wanted to give her a child who was biologically her. Maybe it was dumb or childish, but I didn't want there to be any part of me Taehyung had that Lisa didn't, and the one thing Taehyung still had was paternity of my children.

"I don't know how you can be so calm when they're out on a mission," I said to Tiffany, who sat beside me.

She shrugged a little. "I worry," she said in her Mexican accent. "It's natural to, but I know he's safe. All the men here have a lot to stay alive for, a lot to come home to."

"I know." What I didn't tell her was that I also knew just because you had something to fight for didn't mean you always made it home alive. If that were the case, there wouldn't be any memorial tattoos on the brothers.

The kids were running around, yelling and screaming. Holden and Olive seemed to have found a rhythm. They hardly ever cried anymore. It was like their little hearts knew they were safe, loved, and protected here.

Time dragged on. Lisa had only been gone a few hours. They had multiple leads to follow. It seemed no one had seen my dad since a few days after I ran from Taehyung. Jack found a few images of him when he hacked into surveillance cameras, but there didn't appear to be a pattern.

The moment Taehyung died, I thought it was all over. I wanted it to be. That blissfully ignorant moment was fleeting as I remembered we had my father to deal with too. He was the one who gave me to Taehyung. I hadn't seen him in years, and I didn't care. He would never show back up in my life, but Lisa wouldn't let it go, and I couldn't blame her for that. She wanted him to pay, blamed him for the abuse Taehyung put me through.

One more death and it would all be over.

Another hour passed before one of the prospects came in, announcing they were back. I rushed out of my seat and raced out the door. The van came to a stop just as I crossed the threshold.

Lisa climbed out of the passenger seat and walked straight towards me, wrapping her arms around my lower back and lifting me off the ground in a tight hug.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm perfect, babe," she said into my neck.

When she pulled away and set me back on my feet, she cupped my face.

"He's dead."

"What?" I asked. That wasn't the plan.

"When we got to the trailer he'd been renting, there was no answer. We'd already been to the hotels he was spotted at. He didn't answer the door, so we went in."

"Did Taehyung?" I asked, letting my sentence trail off.

"I don't think so, no. Looked like he'd been dead a long time," she replied.

"So, it's over?" I asked.

"Yeah, it is. You're safe."

She hugged me again and I let myself collapse against her. It was like everything I'd been holding onto from the moment I ran left my body, leaving me dazed and weak.

"I got you," she whispered, holding me up.

I felt people moving around us. We were blocking the entrance but she was in no hurry to move me.

"Thank you," I breathed in her ear.

"Nothing to thank me for, babe," she said as we finally broke apart. "You, Holden, and Olive are my whole world. I'd kill for you over and over again. I'm just sorry I didn't get the chance to end your father." She growled the last part angrily, a scowl forming on her beautiful face.

"It doesn't matter. He's dead. He can never hurt me again. I'm safe. The kids are safe. We're together. We're finally together."

Her hands cupped my face, cradling me gently. She held me like I was fragile, like she was afraid she'd hurt me. I smiled up at her. Her touch told me everything I needed to know. She didn't just love me, she cherished me.

"I'm never letting you go," she said.

"I won't let you."

She kissed me quickly and then took my hand, walking us into the clubhouse. As soon as Holden and Olive saw us, they came running. She swept Olive right up into her arms, cradling her while her other arm went around me. Holden took my hand and squeezed it.

We walked to one of the empty booths and sat down…as a family.

That was what we were. This was our home.

Lisa had plans for us. She'd been talking about a house. All of it. Marriage. More kids. All those things were finally within reach. None of it happened tomorrow. For now, I was content knowing we had our whole future ahead of us. And a family like I'd never had surrounding us for when times got hard.

I was right where I always should have been.

With the one I should have always been with.

The one I'd always belonged to.

And nothing felt better than that.

THE END . . .