The Scarlett Legacy (Woodland Creek)(45)

Avalon looked at her, eyes wide with fear, but there was more… something she couldn’t decipher.

“I promise,” he said. “Now let’s go back down and talk this over.”

Evie stared at him.

For the first time since she met him, she was able to read him.

Horror filled her mind.

He’d done things to Olivia. Things that would haunt Evie forever. She could only imagine how Olivia was coping.

Rage filled her.

All logic escaped her mind.

Before she could stop herself, she crushed Avalon’s neck with her talons and tossed his body yards away through the air. Panting with anger, she watched his body soar through the air and fall downward to the ground.

Alone.

So many emotions filled her.

Relief, sorrow, and fear overwhelmed her.

Is it over?

The silence answered her.

Avalon was gone.

Yes, she thought, a tingly sensation flooding her body.

Was this what victory felt like?

It’s over.

She vowed that this would be the last body that she would bury.





THE SWEET SMELL of hydrangeas filled Evie’s nostrils. It was the best smell in the world.

She carried the bouquet at chest height, her hands tightly gripping it as if someone might run up and steal them from her.

She’d be ready for them. No one would steal her happiness ever again.

Nothing was better than seeing Parker standing at the altar.

Was she dreaming?

Her smile felt as though it took over her entire face.

All that Evie and Parker had endured together.

All of the years they had spent falling in love with each other.

It led to that moment.

Wes gave her hand a pat as he led her down the aisle. She beamed at him, giving him a peck on the cheek as they made their way along the white rose petals that led to Parker.

Everyone that loved her was there. Quinn grinned from her spot at the altar as her maid-of-honor. Olivia stood right behind her in matching lavender gowns.

Parker’s parents watched with delight from the front row.

Adelaide watched from the front row across from them. Tears streamed her face, and she didn’t even care to wipe them away.

A spring wedding in Paris.

This is what Evie had been waiting for all of her life.

Wes kissed her cheek and stepped away to stand behind Parker’s brother, cousin, and best friend.

Evie stood before Parker, her heart full of so much love that it spilled forth in the form of tears.

He reached for her hands, taking them into his own.

“We did it,” he said to her in a whisper.

She nodded. “We did.”

No one else existed at that moment. The priest waited for them, respecting the gravity of that moment.

A tear escaped Parker’s eye. “I’m never letting you go.”

Evie smiled through tears, and nodded. “I know,” she said. “This is not a dream.”