That Emerald Vow (The Crimson Creed #2)

Epilogue

“So that’s basically how I met the love of my life,” I say to the man, who’s sixty percent skinless. I learned while torturing Demetri that it was a very effective method of eliciting pain. “Now you know why I need to pick out the perfect ring to pop the question. Obviously it’s gonna be an emerald because, duh, but the shape is where I am struggling.”

I turn around when I don’t hear a response. Unfortunately, this idiot has a low pain tolerance and has fainted. Smacking his face once, he groans out.

“Okay, good. Look.” I pull out my photos and show him the ring on my phone. “Should I do this oval one?” Looking at him, I see his eyes start bulging.

I look back at the phone. “No? Hmm. Maybe not. I think something more feminine? Sharp edges like my sharp girl.” Flipping to the next image, I shove my camera at him. “How about this one? It’s a marquis cut . . . ” After a long pause, I pull my gaze away from the phone and realize the guy is dead.

Pouting, I look back at my phone to the corpse and back. There’s a sense of rightness deep in my core the longer I look at this one. “Thank you for nothing. I didn’t need you anyway. I know my girl. This is the one. This is the one I’ll propose to her with.”

“Damon, where are we?” Charlie asks as her arms extend out, searching for a clue to answer her question because I blindfolded her again.

I chuckle. “Just wait one more minute.” Nudging her to exactly the spot I want her in, I take a moment to look at her. I told her we were going out to a nice dinner and to dress up, and she did not disappoint. Charlie is wearing a taupe colored dress that hits a few inches above the knees with heeled boots and a leather jacket. She looks absolutely breathtaking and badass. Honestly, she looks just as radiant no matter what.

I myself settled for black slacks and a button-down with the sleeves rolled up. The shirt is a similar shade of green as her eyes—I couldn’t help myself.

“Damon! Come on.”

“Okay! Okay!” I take off her blindfold, and her eyes go wide as she takes in her surroundings. Adrian let me borrow his backyard that we decorated with twinkle lights and all of her favorite flowers.

She looks at me with teary eyes. “Day, what is all this?” she asks with so much emotion in her voice.

I take her hand as I pull her to the table that has a large tray holding a single milkshake with two straws and slices of strawberries that spell out a very important question: “Will you marry me?”

“Charlotte Rose Thatcher. My beautiful, incredible little gem. The moment I laid eyes on you in that bar, my whole world tilted on its axis, which may sound dangerous and bad, but you tilted it back to where it was meant to be.” We both chuckle. “It was like I could truly breathe and feel again. We’ve had one hell of a whirlwind romance for over a year. And while that isn’t long enough for some, it is way more than enough time for me.”

I take out the ring box from my pocket as I get down on one knee. Charlie’s tears are free-falling now, but she’s smiling bigger than I have ever seen her smile. “You are my soulmate, my other half, the puzzle piece that made me whole again. I can’t imagine doing life without you. Would you please do me the honor of being my wife?”

“Yes, Day! Fuck yes!” she screams through her tears as I put the ring on her finger. “I love you so fucking much!”

“I love you too, my little gem.” I squeeze her and spin her around. My heart feels like it’s going to explode out of my chest from how full it is.

Placing her back down, I ask, laughing, “So, how did I do?”

She looks down at the ring. “This is the most beautiful ring I have ever seen in my life. But I will always have a special place in my heart for this one.” Charlie pulls up her opposite hand that has the ring from our first unofficial date. “Buttt . . .” She looks at me mischievously.

I start looking around frantically. “But what?” I ask.

“But you messed up on one little thing.” She grins as she picks up the milkshake and pinches both straws together and takes a sip. “I don’t share my milkshakes.”

I start laughing. “I told you she would be opposed to one milkshake!”

“Charlotte Thatcher, only you would ruin a good union metaphor,” Lily says as she walks in with a tray full of milkshakes and other cocktails. “Well, luckily for you, there are plenty of drinks to go around.”

“Lily!” Charlie exclaims as she rushes to her. More of our closest friends and family start coming out one by one: Dani, Adrian, Rowan, and some Creed members too. “I’m engaged now too!”

“You’re engaged!”

I turn to Adrian. “I think we have a double wedding in our future Ade,” I say, laughing.

“Whatever they want, they get.” He chuckles as he looks at his own fiancee with admiration. Lily winks at him as she and Charlie continue to talk.

“How about you, Row? Ready to settle down?”

Rowan’s eyes widen dramatically, but if the flush in his cheeks is any indication, he wants what we have. “No, things get too complicated when it comes to women. I rather not deal wit—” He stops talking as his eyes catch on something behind me. He looks equally livid and worried as he rushes past me.

I turn around as the crowd around me gasps. Cass, the bartender who Rowan went on a date with a handful of months ago, is standing there with the backyard gate wide open. That wouldn’t have been weird if she weren’t covered in blood, looking like a ghost.

“Who did this to you?” Rowan growls out as he approaches her.

Cass looks up at him with tear-stained eyes. “She—she’s gone. He killed her.”