Cruel Legacy (Cruel 3)

“You mean…a truce,” I muttered. But it made sense. That was exactly what I wanted. What I’d done and who I’d been was exhausting. It wasn’t even me. And maybe I wasn’t exactly the person I’d been before it all, but I wasn’t going to go back to trying to be the new queen bee either. “A truce sounds nice.”

“We’ll work it out together.”

“Together,” I agreed and then kissed him one more time, giving in to that heated gaze.

I knew it wouldn’t all be settled tomorrow or even the next day. The Upper East Side still waited. But I didn’t fear it anymore. Nor did I have the raging desire to burn it down. In some way, it had become a part of me. A part of who I was as a person.

Just as much as Penn was. And together, I knew that we could not only survive it, but also come to find our own place in it. The in-between place that we’d both spent our entire lives looking for.

For him to be his own person. For me to finally belong.

And for us to have it all.

Epilogue

Natalie—Four Years Later

“Okay, okay,” I grumbled, holding the bottle of Jefferson’s Ocean above my head as I stepped into the living room of the Kensingtons’ Hamptons mansion. “I have the requisite liquor. You can all chill the eff out now.”

Penn snorted. He leaned against the door to the kitchen with his hands in his pockets, looking every bit the undeniable charmer I’d fallen for in that same position so many years earlier. “Like we still need to drink straight out of the bottle. I think we have enough glasses to pour it.”

“But that’s not tradition,” Katherine drawled from her seat on the couch.

“Right. That’s not tradition,” I agreed.

It was bizarre as fuck to agree with Katherine. Even still, four years after our big blowup at the charity event.

When Penn and I had returned from our honeymoon in Paris, we’d been cajoled into a reception hosted by his mother. I was wary about the rest of the crew’s attendance, but to be honest, it was the excuse I needed to talk to Katherine. It wasn’t pleasant. In fact, it was downright nasty. But we’d called a shaky truce. One that held much better four years later than it’d ever had when we agreed to it.

“Gang up on me, why don’t you?” Penn muttered.

Addie giggled and slipped into Lewis’s lap. “That’s kind of what we’re here for.”

Lewis wrapped his arms around Addie. “You should know that by now, man.”

With Lewis, it had equally been worse and better than dealing with Katherine. He apologized for the stalking and what had happened leading to the denied restraining order. For there ever having been a reason for me to try to get one in the first place. But he blew a gasket when he found out that I’d been the one to turn him in for the investigation.

Still, I’d gotten it all out in the open. And thankfully, the worst had blown over with the company by the time we got back to the States. His mother had gone back to work as the UN ambassador, and Lewis had been allowed to stay at the company. But he decided it wasn’t his passion, and with Addie’s help, he found out what exactly that was. None of us had expected him to purchase a minor league baseball team and build the program up to unprecedented success.

I took the first drink of the bourbon and passed it to Katherine, who drank deeply.

“Phew,” she said with a shake of her head. “That is the stuff.”

She passed it to Rowe, who practically rolled his eyes from behind his computer and passed it on to Penn. “Do you even know me at all?”

Katherine rolled her eyes. Lark just laughed as she entered the room and grabbed another chair. I’d grown to love Lark. She was no-nonsense. She’d found her own middle ground. And a guy who was perfect for her.

Which was more than I could say for Katherine. Somehow, she and Camden were still married. Though no one was sure if it was happily married or not. And we’d all decided it was none of our business.

“What?” Katherine grumbled, still holding the bottle out.

“Obviously, Rowe doesn’t drink after people,” Lark said.

“He drinks after Nicholas,” Addie pointed out in a way only his twin could.

“That’s my husband,” Rowe said with a shrug.

“And where is your beau tonight?” Addie asked.

“Crew only,” Katherine said emphatically.

“Then what about Natalie?” Addie added like she did every year.

Katherine’s grin was wicked as she shrugged. “I guess Natalie is crew.”

It wasn’t the first time she’d said it or the first time that we’d had this conversation, but it still surprised me to hear it.

We weren’t all close. Crew didn’t hang out like they used to. But they didn’t have to because Penn had been right. There was this in-between ground. Where he could be friends with them and not have them be his only friends. Our world had expanded.