EPILOGUE
‘STOP LOOKING SO NERVOUS,’ Glory murmured. ‘You’ll be fine.’ Then she stretched out her hands for the baby currently in Castor’s arms.
Castor gave his son a final kiss on the forehead before he reluctantly handed Lucas over to Glory.
He’d never been nervous in his entire life but he was nervous now.
The helicopter had landed and in another couple of moments she’d be here.
Castor took a moment to ground himself by looking at his wife and son, the joy of which he still couldn’t believe was his.
The past year had been a busy one. First, he’d used the information he’d managed to get from the heads of the trafficking ring, passing it onto the authorities, and just in time for them to intercept one of the ring’s biggest ‘shipments’ to date. Not only had the authorities managed to save all of the people trafficked, they’d also taken down the heads of the ring itself, just as Castor had hoped.
The news of their capture was a great source of satisfaction to him as he’d disentangled himself from the rest of the web of traffickers he’d once been part of, letting Castor Xenakis, playboy, fade slowly from public life. He was a family man now. He had no need for anything else.
But that didn’t mean he’d stopped his mission. No, it had only changed direction. He and Glory had decided to make all his residences safe houses for women in dangerous situations. Any woman could turn up, no questions asked, and they would be taken care of. It had turned out to be a rousing success.
Then six months after he and Glory had been living together, a miracle happened. He’d received the phone call he’d never thought he’d get from a woman he’d thought had died long ago.
The front door of the villa opened and Glory shifted their son in her arms, before taking Castor’s hand. And like it had a year ago, he felt her love and strength flow into him, settling him.
‘I love you,’ he said softly.
She smiled. ‘I love you too.’
Then the door opened and a young woman came in. A young woman he’d last seen as a girl, looking at the kittens in a pet store.
A young woman who’d been lost for twenty years and now was found.
Ismena. And she was home.
All Castor’s doubts left him.
‘Izzy!’ he said.
And opened his arms.
