Still, I see no judgment.
And I feel this strange spark inside of me.
When Ivan’s body no longer moves, I slowly stand up from him.
Walking over to Amy, I reach down and take her hand in mine then pull her up to me.
Somewhere along the way to this house, I realized how much she means to me. She’s more than just a possession. She’s not property to me… she’s my other half. She’s my soul completed.
Will words be enough to get her to understand how much I care for her? I have no clue. I don’t think she has ever understood the lengths I would go to keep her by my side.
Love.
Fuck me. It’s fucking love.
Walking out of the bedroom, I pull Amy behind me. Her small, delicate hand is so warm inside my own. Shit, it still hurts to move the fucking knuckle though.
Pulling her with the broken hand and leading with the other holding a gun, we walk up the stairs carefully.
Poking our heads in each room, we don’t find Abigail until we get to the master bathroom. She’s quietly hiding in the bathtub, her little hands over her ears.
“Abigail, my heart!” Amy all but wails as she pulls the frightened girl into her arms.
Wrapping my arms around both of my girls, I squeeze them as hard as I can.
The loves of my life both safe and in my protection once again.
I swear though I will never let them go again.
Simon is pacing in front of Lucifer and I as he goes through a litany of curse words. They range from how much of a Neanderthal I am, to the doubting of my parents being more than female dogs.
He’s as pissed as I have ever seen him.
He’s so mad right now he’s actually sweating. His tie is pulled off and the suit jacket he was wearing has been thrown in a corner of the office.
“How could you possibly kill him, Andrew!” he spits out as he stares me down.
“He hurt Amy, and I questioned him before he died. No reason not to.”
“Ivan could have been a bargaining chip for us!”
Looking to Lucifer, I shrug my shoulders. “I didn’t see a reason in letting him have a chance to get loose again.”
“That’s not your decision!” Simon yells.
Lucifer shrugs. “He was…onsite, Simon, we were not.”
Knowing I have Lucifer’s backing in this, I turn back to Simon. “He said something big was happening, but even he didn’t know what. Don’t you think you should be figuring that out?”
Turning away from them both, I carefully put my raincoat on over my suit.
It’s cold and rainy as fuck yet again.
My hand throbbing, I look back to them both. “I’m going home to my girls, Simon. Ivan said this was his own job. I think he was telling the truth; just like I think there’s something bigger in the works.”
Walking out of the fucker’s office, I leave the door open, debating if I should go back in there and throttle the bastard.
Ivan was dead as soon as he took Abigail. What the fuck did he expect me to do? Sit back? Fuck that shit.
No one touches what’s mine.
Epilogue
Amy
Two months later
Standing in front of Andrew, holding his hand as I state my vows, I feel every word I say in the very depths of my soul.
“I, Amy Johnson, take thee Andrew Baxter for my lawful husband…”
I stare deep into his dark eyes and I feel so much love. So much hope.
He’s everything I want. Everything I’ll ever need.
“To have and to hold, from this day forward…”
After all we’ve been through the future looks so bright.
“For better, for worse…”
I remember that day, not too long ago, when he killed a man for me…
“For richer, for poorer…”
When he strangled Ivan’s life out of him with his bare hands while staring me in the eyes. There was so much love there, so much love…
“In sickness and in health…”
He’s killed for me. He’s killed for Abigail. He did for me what I couldn’t do for myself.
If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.
“Until death do us part,” I finish and Andrew smirks like he’s in on some secret joke.
I blink up at him, not understanding his amusement. He squeezes my hand and glances towards the priest.
The priest acknowledges our consent and then declares, “What God joins together, let no one put asunder.”
Our rings are blessed and then we exchange them. As I repeat after the priest and slide my ring over his finger, I marvel at all the scars on his knuckles.
He’s lead such a violent, brutal life…
He slides his ring over my finger and I look back up at him.
I know who he is and I know what he is. And I accept him. I know without a doubt he will always protect us, his family.
There’s another blessing and a prayer but staring up at Andrew, it’s hard to pay attention to anything but him.