The Other Side of Greed by Lily Zante

Epilogue

Three weeks later…

BRANDON

Kyra rolls over on top of me. “That's better,” I tell her, my hands go straight to her buttocks. My cock springs to attention, hard not to when her warm body is skin-to-skin against mine. I knead her flesh slowly. We’ve been trying to get up and leave for the past hour, but I can’t. I want to stay with her in this big, warm, cosy bed.

“We need to go,” she says, even though her actions indicate nothing of the sort. A wide grin spreads across her mouth as she impales herself on me. I groan. My pleasure intensifying as I watch her sitting on me, naked, starting to ride me slowly.

I can't take my eyes off this woman. She leans over, her hands grabbing my shoulders as we buck and bump, draining every single ounce of pleasure from one another.

Who would have thought that this is how we would end up?

She falls onto me, our sweaty foreheads touching. The silence of the moment is punctuated only by our breaths, long and slow, as we float down from our high.

“We are going to be late,” Kyra mumbles as she climbs off me. “We need to make a move now, Brandon.”

I turn my head and glance at the clock. We are late. Damn it. I don't want to leave, but Redhill is celebrating reaching a huge milestone.

Things have changed there, and after the fire the business took a big hit in production but Kyra now has new premises. A warehouse which is where today's celebrations are taking place, but she also has another factory next to the existing one.

She's hired bouncy castles and ordered food and has servers taking care of things. She wanted to celebrate getting everything back to normal again, to moving on after the fire. This celebration is for all the employees and their children.

She's also invited all of Simona's family, and we're having a surprise birthday cake for her. After the fire she was never able to fit in another birthday celebration for Simona after the other one got spectacularly ruined.

I recall that day when everything imploded. Jessica did me a favor setting the trap the way she did. She thought it would expose me to Kyra and make her hate me, and it almost did.

I climb out of bed, unable to stop myself from putting my arms around Kyra. The skin-to-skin contact of our hot, sweaty bodies isn't helping.

“We should rush.” I don't want to ruin Simona's day again either, but neither of us are making a move, standing with our arms wrapped around one another. My condo has become a place where we cocoon ourselves away from the rest of the world.

“We can come back,” she suggests, her tone husky, her fingers teasing around my buttocks. “Penny’s back. She’s come home for Christmas.”

My life has changed so much between summer and now. It’s hard to believe everything that has happened. “That’s great.”

“It’s nice to have family to share it with,” she says, examining my face carefully.

“I can imagine.”

“Is it going to be just the three of us? On Christmas day?”

She has touched on this before. She and Penny still help out at the soup kitchens a few times over the holiday season, and I intend to be there with them, even if I have to wear a ridiculous disguise. The press seems to have whipped themselves up into a frenzy with our relationship. I can’t imagine what they’d make of me helping out at a soup kitchen over Christmas.

But Kyra isn’t alluding to that. Nor is she pressing to meet my parents. I’ve kept them out of the loop for now.

She wants to know about Kane. Seeing Kyra with her sister reminds me of Kane and I often find myself wondering how things would be between the two of us now.

Kyra often tells me I should try and get in touch with him. I want to, but I'm scared. I let him down. I abandoned him. I broke my promise. Because of my father, I forgot about him. Kyra can tell me a million times that it wasn't my fault, that I did what I did in order to survive, but now I'm too scared to face what might have happened to my little brother.

We manage to get showered and dressed and reach the new warehouse not too late.

“Hey, dude.” Fredrich slaps a hand on me and I howl in pain. “Damn, I'm sorry.” His face crumples in shock as I try to breathe through the pain.

“I should wear a 'Stay Away' sign or something.”

“Totally, dude. You should. You look fine on the outside. It's easy to forget about the burns.”

It's always easy to forget when you don't see the scars. “Don't worry about it. I'm tougher than I look.”

Kyra and Emma join us. “He is tougher than he looks,” Emma vouches.

“My action man hero,” gushes Kyra, in a rare display of public affection and admiration. Standing on my good side, the side that didn't burn, her arm slips around my waist, and she squeezes gently.

Kyra has hired Emma and she and Fredrich are working together to get things set up here at the new warehouse. Simona has been taking care of the old Redhill premises while Kyra and I—when I can get away from Hawks Enterprises to help her—are getting the factory next door set up.

Things have sped up insanely.

The new warehouse is empty for now, and inside its open plan, so we're holding the party here, complete with bouncy castles and children's entertainers. A party atmosphere permeates the air, and it no longer looks like an empty, unused space. It will soon be teeming with life next week when equipment and machinery start to arrive.

Kyra's dreams really have come true.

“I don't believe it.” Emma's jaw hangs open as she stares outside. The doors to the warehouse are wide open. “Elias Cardoza.”

“Eli!” My girlfriend sounds just as excited.

I stare. “You invited them?” Elias Cardoza and his girlfriend are climbing out of a black SUV.

“I wasn't sure they would come,” Kyra mutters under her breath and heads towards them. We all look on as a tall familiar looking guy helps another woman out of the car.

“Who’s that?” I ask. Next to me Emma makes another drooling sound. “Callum Sandersby.” She fans her face, then catches me observing her with amusement. The name rings a bell.

“Hollywood heart throb,” she gushes.

“Neville never had that effect on you,” I remark.

“The perks of my new job.” Her face flushes before my eyes.

“Go on, then,” I urge her. But like me and Fredrich, Emma chooses to stay here and observe things from a distance. Kyra seems to be at home with her famous friends. I'll go over soon, once they've all caught up.

“Would it be too unclassy to ask for their autographs?” Emma asks, searching the pockets of her jeans. Kyra beckons to me, waving at us to come over.

“Here,” I pull out a pen from my shirt. “You could get him to sign your arm.”

Emma takes the pen. “Him? I want them both.” And off she marches.

This has taken some getting used to, Emma in jeans and casual clothes. My polished and efficient PA is now doing a stellar job working for Kyra, but everything about her is different. Her face is softer, she laughs more, she glows.

Kyra said the same about me a few days ago. She told me she'd noticed a change in me. When I tell her that she was responsible for the change, she refuses to take credit for it.

Neville loathes me and my new business ideas, which isn't a problem for me. He says it’s just as well that my father has stepped away from the business otherwise he would die of a heart attack.

I don't keep the old man appraised. He's far too frail, and not always with it. My mother looks after him, but he also has private nurses to tend to him. He's not the sharp and astute man he used to be. I don't allow myself to get angry at him for what he did to us, to me and Kane, by keeping us apart.

But what I can do is reach out to Kane and try to make up for the lost years between us. A thought pinches the edges of my brain, leaving a sharp pain to cut through me.

What if Kane isn't here anymore? What if he ...

But that's as far as I'll let myself think.

He is alive. He has to be.

I will find him and we'll be together again.

Fredrich swipes a hand over his face before sniffing his armpits.

“They're not going to kiss you all over,” I tell him. “They've both got boyfriends.” I assume he's salivating over Elias' girlfriend and sister.

“Emma,” Fredrich murmurs. “She's single, isn't she?”

My eyes threaten to eject from their sockets. “Emma?”

He nods slowly.

“She's a few years older than you,” I tell him, not that age matters. Or social strata.

I glance at the group of people he's staring at, but all he can see is Emma. And all I can see is Kyra, even though there's a heavyweight champion and a Hollywood movie star in that group.

“You were supposed to be getting all set up in the new warehouse, not making eyes at her, or planning your next move.” I pat Fredrich on the back.

“I was,” he growls back.

“We should go over,” I suggest but he shakes his head, surprising me. This huge hulk of a guy is too shy to be around Emma. I would never have guessed.

People didn't surprise me before. Not even the Jessicas of this world. I had them all figured out; the ones who surprise me are these people I prefer to be around more than anything—the Redhill crew. They surprise me, and always for good reason.

We've also recently learned that the fire started because a gas line connected to the factory ruptured and a tiny spark must have set off an explosion which caused the fire. It was nothing to do with Neville at all.

“One of us needs to go over. It doesn’t look good.”

Elias glances in my direction as I walk towards him. He reaches out with his hand. “Good to meet you,” he says, as Kyra introduces us.

“Great to meet you.” His handshake is everything I would expect from a heavyweight champion. I'm about to shake hands with the movie star next when someone tugs at my shirt from behind.

“Brandon.” It's Stefan.

“Hey, buddy.” I turn around and we high five each other. It's been a while since I've seen the kids because they don't come to the food nights anymore. The outcome of the fire could have been so much worse, and we were lucky they got out alive. They should never have been there that late at night in the first place. After what happened, I insisted on getting Yvette help. Now she has a childminder whenever she needs it. I've also helped the family to move into a bigger place, somewhere nicer and safer.

Kyra tells me that I can't get too involved, and that we’re doing all we can to help people, but how can I not get that involved when it comes to children?

The guilt I carry with me is like a chokehold, slowly taking my breath away. Helping Stefan and his family is my way of doing the things I wasn't able to do for Kane.

Stefan tells me what he's been up to, and how much he likes his new school, and about all the friends he's made. That makes me happy.

I bend down so that my eyes are level with his. “Elias Cardoza is over there.” I recall how ecstatic he was on the night Eli won the fight.

“I know. I saw him talking to you, but I wanted to talk to you first.”

I swallow. Because when a child looks at you with admiration, and picks you over a heavyweight champion, it's hard not to be moved.

“It's cold out here.” I rub my arms. “How about we go inside and get some burgers?”

“Lemme get a selfie with Elias first.”

“Meet you inside, buddy.”

He runs away, just as Kyra comes up to me. “That boy adores you,” she says, taking my hand. We watch as Elias poses with Stefan and Holly who has come out of nowhere. Their faces are all lit up with happiness and they look nothing like the kids I first saw.

I look at Kyra. Her eyes are glassy. “It's never too late, Brandon.”

I was supposed to persuade her—into doing something that was so wrong for her—but the tables have turned and now she's the one persuading me, except she’s coaxing me into doing the right thing.

It's why I love her so much. So much. Her love for me is fierce and strong, and I can feel it in every cell of my being. It shines so brightly that I no longer recognize the man I used to be.

The man Neville misses.

The man Emma is proud of.

The man Kyra loves.

“I'm going to reach out,” I tell her. “I'm going to find my brother and make amends.”

She lifts up on her toes and kisses me. “Oh, Brandon. That's wonderful. Just wonderful.”

She's taught me that it's not too late, that every life is precious, and that people can be saved.

I should know, because she saved me.

Thank you for reading THE OTHER SIDE OF GREED! I hope you enjoyed Brandon and Kyra’s story as much as I loved writing it.

There’s more to come in THE SEVEN SINS series. Even though these books can be read as a standalone, some of the characters interconnect. If you haven’t yet read Eli’s story, you can do so in THE WRATH OF ELI.

A boxer who wants the belt, a journalist who wants the story ...

Elias Cardoza gets a shot at the world heavyweight title but nobody expects him to win. But this fighter from the mean streets of Chicago is determined to prove everyone wrong.

Harper Lindstrom, a journalist from the local paper, has to shadow him for a month.

Elias despises her on sight. He doesn't need this diva prying into the past he is trying to ease.

One-click THE WRATH OF ELI

If you want to read about the Hollywood movie star mentioned in this book you’ll want to check out THE LIES OF PRIDE which features Eli’s sister, Nina, and the Hollywood heartthrob she saves.

If you want to know when Kane’s book will be ready, SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER:

http://www.lilyzante.com/newsletter

If you’ve read all of THE SEVEN SINS books so far and are looking for something else to read before the last two books are ready, you can one-click THE PROMISE.

This is the FREE prequel to a rollercoaster ride of a romance between a tormented billionaire and a debt-ridden single mom.

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Thank you and happy reading!

Lily