Rescued: Shadows Landing (The Townsends #3)

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

S ix weeks later . . .

Kane watched as Nico and Waverly walked around the building. The sign for her new lab had been hung this morning on the outside of the building. Equipment had been ordered and was being installed. Waverly planned to open on January third, less than a month away.

The offices were complete. Different sections of the lab were also finished. It was amazing what a lot of money and contacts within the construction world could do. Waverly’s necklace, now filled with charms from New York City, Mexico, Sudan, and South Africa sparkled as she talked to contractors while Kane watched.

Angelica had hired a replacement for the position of Kane’s assistant. Between Ryker and Kane, he was pretty sure they employed at least half of the dominatrix club by now. Angelica had also hired two more negotiators. They’d been former military or law enforcement and had real-world experience with negotiations and raids when negotiations fell through. Now, instead of traveling all the time, Kane was only going to be traveling every couple of weeks and soon to be once a month.

It wasn’t because Waverly wanted him home. It was because he wanted to be home. He was the boss. He took the hardest cases or the ones where he had the better connections on the ground. However, he was now taking junior negotiators with him so they could learn and eventually take his place.

Kane hadn’t told Waverly, but he was thinking of marriage and a family as he planned the future of his company. He wanted to be around for every moment of their lives, not halfway around the world when their child took their first step. But, first, he had something he needed to do.

“Thanks guys!” Waverly called out as the work day came to an end. Nico headed out with a wink to Kane. Then the construction crew left, leaving just the two of them. “Isn’t it perfect?” Waverly asked.

“It is. I’m surprised you hired Garvey.”

“Just part-time. He feels horrible and is so lost after what happened. Maria will spend the rest of her life in prison. Our government has worked with the Dominican Republic and have completely wiped out DR3. But with that, they also took all of the DR3 assets, including Charleston Research and his house. Garvey lost not only his wife but his whole career. At least they left him with his retirement,” Waverly told him. “He’s been living with his daughters but is coming back after the holidays when the sale of his new house is finalized. I told him he could start whenever he’d like.”

“What is he going to be doing?”

“What he started with—research.”

“That’s very nice of you, Waverly.”

“Don’t think I’m too nice. I refused to hire Kelvin,” she said with a laugh. “But, what do you think of it?” Waverly asked as she spun around, gesturing to the lab.

“It’s just as amazing as you are.”

When Waverly turned back to him, she found him on one knee. The tension band with the diamond seemingly suspended between the gold bands was in his hand. “Waverly Davenport,” Kane started, more nervous than he’d ever been before, strange since he knew without a doubt that Waverly would say yes. She’d moved into his house six weeks ago and all they’d done was grow closer and deeper in love. “You are my world, my light, my home. You have my heart, tease my senses, and challenge my mind. I love you more than I knew was possible. Will you marry me?”

Kane kept his eyes locked on Waverly’s as tears threatened to spill over, but it was the giant smile on her face that made him so happy he was about to burst. “Yes!”

His fingers shook as he slid the ring on her finger. He’d had to work with Lark to find Waverly’s ring size so the ring would fit just right. “Oh, Kane. I love you!” Waverly said before throwing herself into his arms.

Kane kissed her, knowing soon he’d be kissing his wife.

“Can’t you hunker down a little more?” Lark asked Quad.

“I’m six foot seven, babe. We all can’t be fun-sized,” Quad teased from where he was trying to hide behind the couch at Kane’s house.

Damon knew his brother had proposed tonight and so did Lark. In conjunction with her soon-to-be sisters, Olivia and Penelope, they decided on the ultimate cockblock and planned a surprise party at their house.

“I’ll hide with you, Penelope,” Nico said, sliding into the coat closet.

Damon’s hand shot out and grabbed Nico’s suit jacket. “No, you won’t.” Damon gave Nico a tug and smirked when Pen gave him a little wave goodbye as she shut the door to the closet.

“You do realize Gage Bell is in that closet, right?” Nico asked Damon.

Damon clenched his jaw. His younger siblings were going to be the death of him. “Forrest,” Damon said, snapping at his brother. “Get in the closet with Pen.”

“We are not that Southern yet.”

Damon rolled his eyes. “Gage is in there.”

Forrest rubbed his hands together. “Fun times.” Forrest yanked open the door and literally jumped into the closet. “Move over lobster pants.”

Nico’s lip twitched with amusement. Damon jabbed his finger into Nico’s chest. “No,” Damon growled. Nico’s lip twitched again and Damon was worried he was going to get a migraine putting up with this shit.

“Here they come,” Olivia whispered as the rest of the group scattered and hid. The door opened and Kane and Waverly stumbled in while they were locked in a kiss.

“Surprise!” Everyone yelled when Olivia flipped on the light.

Waverly screamed as Kane shoved her behind him, and Damon was relieved Kane hadn’t been armed.

Then Waverly laughed and the party was on. Kane didn’t drop his hand from Waverly. They were constantly touching each other. Waverly was Kane’s perfect match.

Wilder brought Damon a glass of bourbon from Barrel Creek Distillery. “To us single men. The family is growing fast. You know it won’t be long until we’re uncles.” Wilder shivered.

“Maybe it’ll grow even more soon,” Damon said, staring at Wilder.

“Don’t say that, bro. Besides, I’m married to my nightclubs. And nightclubs are where you go for hookups, not to find a wife.”

“If Kane can find love in the shadows of his work, so can you.”

Wilder was about to reply when his gaze moved to Pen. “What the hell is going on with Pen?”

Nico stood off to the side as she and Gage flirted shamelessly.

“I swear, she’s trying to kill me. She goes back to Europe after the holidays,” Damon told Wilder.

“Yeah, but what is she doing in Europe when we’re not there watching out for her?”

“Screw you,” Damon grumbled. “May you find love and settle down soon.”

“Hey! Don’t say that!” Wilder called out after Damon as he stalked off to separate Pen and Gage. But then Wilder caught Nico watching his sister and decided he needed to put a stop to that.

“Nico,” Wilder said seriously as he joined the man standing off to the side of the celebration.

“Wilder.” Nico never seemed to get ruffled and that pissed Wilder off. Even Quad, who was still dating Lark, would get ruffled. He wouldn’t back down, but he looked fearful. Nico never did. “I hear we have a lot of common acquaintances.”

“I think you mean business partners who I have to pay off to not be bothered in certain locations.” Wilder hated the game, but he played it to make sure his nightclubs were not only safe but successful.

Nico tilted his head. “As I said, common acquaintances. Let me know if you ever need any help with them.”

Wilder noticed Nico was watching Damon cockblocking Gage, his attention fully on Penelope. “Yeah, that’s never going to happen.”

Nico turned his blue eyes on Wilder as he took a sip of his drink. Then the bastard winked at him and walked off.

Wilder watched as Kane and Waverly celebrated their engagement. He was happy for them, even if it made him feel more alone than ever. It was a strange feeling to feel so alone when you were almost constantly in a crowd.

“I swear, Pen makes me feel old,” Forrest grumbled as he joined Wilder and topped off his glass.

“Do you ever feel . . .”

“On the outside of the family?” Forrest finished for him.

“Yeah, exactly.” Wilder was surprised someone actually understood how he was feeling.

“I work outdoors almost all the time. I’m hiking places, helicoptering places, or studying blueprints and plans. I’m alone a lot. Then I come here and instead of the guys’ time I’m used to, it’s dinner over at the happy couples’ houses.”

“Sometimes we can get them to the bar,” Wilder muttered. “I love them though. And I’m happy for them. They found really great women who treat us like family too.”

“I know,” Forrest frowned. “I sound like I don’t like them, but I do. Very much. I love them like sisters. However, it also points out how very different our lives are.”

Wilder looked to where Kane was staring lovingly down at Waverly as she talked. “I might be a little jealous, but don’t tell Damon. He’s worse than our parents.”

“I understand how you feel and hell no, I will never tell Damon. Why is he in such a hurry to get us all married? Does he have a secret girlfriend or something that he wants to marry but is worried about us?”

Wilder chuckled. “I don’t see him as the girlfriend type, never mind a hidden one. Hey, how is your work going?”

“Pretty good. I’ve been asked to go to the Amazon rainforest next year.”

“Very cool.” Wilder was going to ask him more, but he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out and answered it immediately when he saw that it was his club manager in New York. “Hello.”

“Mr. Townsend, it’s Bryce Packer.”

“How are things in New York, Bryce?”

“Not good, sir. We had another assault.”

“Shit,” Wilder cursed as he strode out of Kane’s house. “What happened?”

“Twenty-two-year-old female was drugged. We’ve been watching the security footage and think we found the person who dropped something into her drink, but they avoided the cameras. He helped her outside while she was still fully alert. She described him to the police, but when he got her outside, he took her into the alley, robbed her, and tried to sexually assault her as the drugs kicked in. Another guy went out for a smoke, saw it, and chased him off. It’s the third one this month. It’s not a good look. What’s worse? I’ve heard from Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Paris. They’ve all had an uptick in crime, be it assaults or drugs.”

“Are the police helping or are they just shrugging it off since the DA doesn’t want to admit there’s a crime problem?”

Bryce sighed. “The DA just had a news conference tonight touting a decrease in murder rates. He ignored the increase in rape, assaults, and robberies in the city. News on the street is the DA wants to run for mayor on the platform that he cleaned up the city. The police wanted to investigate, but since the victim wasn’t ‘seriously injured’ they had to focus their resources elsewhere, per the DA.”

“Talk to managers of other clubs like ours. See if it’s just WET being hit with these assaults, spiked drinks, and thefts. I’ll be at the club tomorrow.”

“Thanks, boss. I’m at a loss for how to stop these. We’ve increased security and added more cameras, yet they seem to know their way around it.”

“I know. I’ll get to the bottom of it.”

Wilder hung up the phone and headed back inside. He saw Nico talking to Waverly and grimaced. Nico was from the mafia family that used to run New York City. He split his time between Charleston and New York. Wilder gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to have to ask Nico for help, but he feared he might have to.

“Damon,” Wilder said, drawing his brother’s attention. “I’m having some trouble at my clubs, especially the New York one. I need to leave. Keep me up to date on Kane and Waverly. If he follows in Hunter’s and Stone’s footsteps, it won’t be a long engagement.”

“Call if you need any help. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the city.”

“Thanks, brother.”

Wilder ducked out of the party and strode to his car. He needed to pack and get to New York. His reputation and his clubs’ reputation were in jeopardy if he couldn’t find a solution to this criminal activity. One thing they didn’t count on was Wilder would go to the mat to take the people responsible down. He wasn’t just a rich businessman in his ivory tower. No, Wilder has started as a bouncer and learned the business from the inside out and the ground up. And no one messed with him, his family, or his clubs. No one.

What happens when Wilder comes face to face with the person who can cause his downfall? Find out in HEATED when undercover detective Bex tries to bring Wilder down only to fall for him as they work to discover the source of the danger to his clubs.