The Ritual: EPILOGUE TWO

EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER

I STAND IN our kitchen, dressed in my suit, a cup of coffee in one hand, papers in the other. I have court this afternoon. Day two of a trial that I already know will take months. It’s a Lord who fucked up. But to the world, he’s another corporate billionaire who deserves to rot in hell. I already know the outcome, but we have to give the world the show they want. Once he’s sentenced and forgotten, he’ll be terminated. Like all the Lords before him that betrayed their oath.

Looking up I see Reign enter, dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and nothing else, looking like he hasn’t slept in days. “Want to tell me why I got a notification that the alarm was turned off at three in the morning?” I ask, setting my cup down on the counter.

He smirks, “I think you’d rather me not.” Opening the fridge, he grabs a jug of milk and tosses it back without grabbing a glass. He knows his mother hates when he does that.

“Whoever she is, she better be gone.” I inform him when he lowers it.

That smirk back on his face. The look in his green eyes tells me that she’s definitely still in this house. “You have ten minutes.” I warn.

“He only needs two.” Royal—his twin brother—enters the kitchen not looking any better. His hair a disheveled mess. It’s hard to miss the scratches on his bare back and bite marks on his neck. He’s only dressed in a pair of sweatpants.

“Your mother will be home any minute with your sister, and I’m not going to cover for you two.” I shake my head.

They both snort, trying to act unfazed. They tower over her five-foot four frame, standing at six-two, but I’ve seen her level them with a single look. “Hey, I’ve only got one girl in my room, dipshit here, has two.” Reign points over at Royal.

Me and Blake have always been open with the boys about sex. We understood that it was going to happen. They’re seniors in high school about to graduate, but that doesn’t mean she openly allows it under our roof. “Roy—”

“They already left.” He assures me.

“So, Dad …” Reign leans against the opposite corner, facing me and I already know what’s coming. “We both need to talk to you.”

Royal shakes his head, his unruly hair falling into his eyes. “There is no we . This is a you conversation.”

Reign rolls his eyes at his twin before they meet mine again. “Graduation is coming up. Just three more weeks. Then initiation at Barrington starts this summer …”

“We should have this conversation when your mother gets here.” I interrupt him.

“We know how she feels about the Lords.” He sighs, “But we want to join.”

“No.” Royal shoves his shoulder playfully. “You want to be a Lord. Why the fuck would I want to sustain from sex just to prove I’m a man?” Snorting he adds. “I like pussy too much for that shit.”

I run a hand over my shaved face. “Boys …”

“Maybe if you’d stop fucking for five seconds, you’d be able to see the bigger picture here.” Reign snaps at Royal. “Being a Lord …”

“Is overrated.” Royal looks at me. “No offense, Dad.”

I shrug. “None taken.” A part of me is proud that Reign wants to join, but a bigger part wants him to be himself. It took me a long time to realize just how much the Lords controlled my life. I dedicated everything to them long before initiation even started. But no matter what, I can never regret my decision to join because it led me to Blake.

“I …”

The sound of the front door opening and closing cuts off Reign and his lips thin at the fact his mother is home. She has made herself very clear how she feels about them joining the Lords—not going to happen. We’ve spoken to them about it over the years. Of course, there were some personal details that we didn’t tell them, but we wanted them to see the kind of evil that lives out there. That the devil does in fact come to you in the most alluring form.

“Good morning,” My wife enters the kitchen with our daughter behind her. Her long dark hair down and in big curls, dressed in a charcoal suit and black heels. She’s still just as stunning as she was when I ran into her at Barrington.

“Morning,” I grab her hand and pull her into me, cupping her face. “I missed you.” She was only going for two days but it felt like forever.

“Missed you.” She leans up in her heels and gently kisses my lips before pulling away.

“How was Stanford?” I ask, looking at our daughter. Ryann looks just like her mother, but I don’t worry much because Royal and Reign don’t even let boys around her. They protect her like I protect their mother. It’s been nice having backup. She’s a junior this year in high school. And she reminds me of Blake—she can’t wait to get the hell away from here.

When I first met Blake, she longed for a different life than the one her parents allowed her to have. And we’ve done everything in our power to make sure our daughter is going to get a chance at what she wants.

“Amazing!” She smiles.

“You guys can’t be serious about letting her go to Stanford?” Reign demands. “I thought it was a joke.”

“Not everyone wants to stay home with mommy and daddy.” Ryann places her hands on her hips. “Some of us have dreams.”

Reign scoffs. “It’s like thirty hours away …”

“Try forty,” Royal corrects him.

“They make these things called planes.” Ryann says sarcastically. “We do have one. You can come and visit me anytime.” She looks at Royal. “Lots of hot girls there. Think hot weather—beach and swimsuits.”

“Really?” He arches a dark brow with interest.

“Speaking of girls. Looks like you lost a fight with a tree.” Blake observes Royal, her eyes looking over his scratches with disapproval.

Reign starts laughing, Ryann pulls her lips back and Royal just shakes his head. “Something like that.”

“I hope you use protection.” Ryann states.

“What the fuck, Ry? You shouldn’t know things like that.” Reign tells her.

“Condoms?” She asks tilting her head to the side.

“Sex.” Royal answers.

“I’m seventeen, not ten.” She throws her long dark hair over her shoulder and exits the kitchen.

“Dad …?” Reign’s eyes go from mine to his mothers, when he nods his head.

“We’ll discuss it later.” I tell him as Blake exits the kitchen. I follow her down the hallway to our master suit.

“Does this conversation we’re having later have anything to do with the two girls driving down our driveway at seven in the morning, or the one I watched sneak out the sliding glass door?”

I smile, she sees everything. “No. He wants to join the Lords.”

Her body stiffens. “No.” She shakes her head.

“Blake—”

“The answer is no, Ryat! You know how I feel about that.” She removes her suit jacket and throws it down onto the bed.

“We all do but he wants to join them as bad as you wanted to go to Stanford.” My wife never wanted to attend Barrington, but again, she wasn’t given that option. For the last two months her and Ryann have been visiting colleges to see which one is her favorite choice after her high school graduation next year. So, far looks like Stanford is winning.

“That’s not fair.” She places her hands on her hips and glares at me.

“I know.”

“No, I mean not fair to me. One is an education, the other could get him killed.” She snaps.

“We always told the kids that we would listen to what they want.” I remind her.

“Except this.” She pulls away from me and turns her back to me.

“You’re being unreasonable.”

Stopping, she spins around, her mouth falling open. “And you seem to forget everything you went through because of them.”

Walking over to her, I grip her hips keeping her in place. “He doesn’t need our permission.”

Her bottom lip starts to tremble, “I know.” She whispers. “I just didn’t want her to be right.”

“Who?” I frown.

“Doesn’t matter.” She avoids answering.

A knock comes on our door before our daughter steps in. “Hey, my car is on E …”

“Again!” Royal yells from down the hall.

“So, I’m going to ride with the boys to school.” She informs us.

“Okay,” Blake nods. “Are you sure you got enough sleep on the plane?”

“Yeah.” She smiles at us. “Love you guys. See you after school.”

“Love you,” we say in unison.

Turning her back toward me I hear her sniff. I sigh, “Blake …”

“We’re out.” Reign pops his head in.

“Wait!” She hollers, reaching up and wiping her face before spinning around to face him. “Your dad said you wanted to talk about the Lords.”

He glares at me and then looks back at her. Answering, he squares his shoulders. “Yeah, I do.”

She places one hand on her hip the other in her hair, and she nods more to herself than him. “Okay. We’ll talk when you get home.”

“Really?” he asks, his face lighting up.

“Really.” She tells him.

“Thanks, mom. Love you guys.” He takes off and we both stand silently, listening to doors shut, the kids argue. Then we hear Royal’s car start before they drive away. Leaving us in silence once again.

I walk over to her, and she looks up at me with tear-filled eyes. “I don’t want him to hate me.” She chokes out.

Pulling her into me, I hug her tightly kissing my hair. “He could never hate you, Blake.”

She pulls away. “I hated my dad and Valerie for so long because I didn’t understand what was really going on. I thought being truthful with them was the right thing.”

“It was.”

“How?” She points at the door. “He thinks it’s some game.”

“No. He doesn’t.” Reign understands more about the Lords than I did at his age. I jumped headfirst not knowing what to expect. I’ve tried giving him as much information as he could possibly need, knowing that this day would come. “All we have to do is listen. We’ve still got a few months before initiation even starts.”

Nodding, she runs her hand through her hair. “I guess.” She says quietly. “I just feel like my hands are tied.”

“They’re about to be.” My eyes drop to the way her silk button-up blouse pulls against her chest.

“Ryat—” She shoves my shoulder and I grab her wrists, pulling her into me. Her body crashes against mine, cutting her off.

Letting go on one, I slide it into her long, dark hair and pull on the soft strands, forcing her to lift her chin, so she has to look up at me. “We have the house to ourselves, and I have a few hours before I have to leave.” My wife has been gone for two days and I plan on making up for that lost time.

She swallows, her pretty blue eyes searching mine. “What should we do?”

I smile, lowering my lips to her neck. “I know several things that I can do.” The first thing is to rip these fucking clothes off of her.

After she killed Valerie and Matt was taken care of, everything settled down. Our life turned somewhat normal—as much as it can being a Lord and a Lady. I offered to give her a big wedding—a proper one—with friends and family. I wanted my wife to have the chance for the world to see me profess my undying love to her. After all, being a Lord has taught me if there’s not an audience to witness, it didn’t exist.

She declined. My wife understands how much I love her and didn’t need an audience. Instead, she took pictures. All the time. Of me and her. Of our twin boys and our daughter. I wanted us to have a big family but complications during her pregnancy with Ryann resulted in an emergency c-section and a hysterectomy. And although I imaged us having more, I couldn’t be happier with the family that she gave me.

I bought this cabin out in the middle of nowhere to be alone. To get away from everything. My wife made it a home. The once empty house is now filled with photos over the years we have spent together on vacations, date nights, our kids succeeding in school and sports. It tells our life story.

Of course, it hasn’t always been pretty. I didn’t expect it to be. Blake can be just as stubborn as me. We fought over the Lord’s, my career, the kids. She once asked me if I believed in life after death. If there was anything better than this. Almost twenty years later and my answer hasn’t changed.

I was forced to pick her as my chosen, but she continues to choose me every day. And that is what I call heaven. Because life without her would be hell.