A wary gleam entered his brown eyes. "Do you want it to be over?"
"No. And it feels a little scary to say that. It hurt so badly when I lost Landon, I never wanted to get that close to anyone else, until now, until you. But I know that this relationship, or whatever it is, has been forged in danger and adrenaline-fueled nights. Maybe it was never meant to last longer than the case."
"I have never wanted to get that close to anyone, either," he said. "Watching my parents' marriage fall apart, feeling split between people who had gone from love to hate in what seemed like such a short time, made me cautious. Love seemed like too big of a risk. It was safer to keep everything casual."
"So, this is casual?"
He immediately shook his head. "That's not what I meant. That's how I felt before I met you. But you are a force of nature, Haley Kenton, and you have broken down every one of my walls. I have never met anyone who loves so loyally, so fiercely, who would literally die not just for the person she loved but for their memory. I had lost faith in people over the past few years, but you made me see I was just not spending time with the right people." He paused. "I think we should see what could happen between us."
Relief ran through her. "I think we should, too. Frankly, I can't imagine not seeing you when I wake up in the morning or talking to you before I go to bed at night. But maybe after everything calms down, we'll be bored with each other."
He laughed. "Not a chance. You and I will never be boring."
She grinned back. "That's probably true. Because you're going to keep working for the FBI, and I'm going to keep trying to put a spotlight on corruption."
"Seems like we have a whole lot more trouble to get into."
"And a whole lot more excitement. I think we should start now."
"You're exhausted."
"I'm…" She shrugged. "I actually don't know what I am. So many feelings are running through me. Relief, a sense of freedom, and satisfaction that people are going to pay for what they did to me and my brother, and what they were going to do to hurt so many more people. But I also feel happy because we're together. We're alive." She paused, then decided to put it all on the table. "And because I'm falling in love with you, Matt."
He sucked in a quick breath. "I'm falling in love with you, too."
"Then we don't need to wait for anything, do we?"
"Not even for a second." He covered her mouth with his, and the warmth of their embrace, their kiss, their love, filled her to the brim. All her lonely feelings evaporated in Matt's arms. And as she kissed him back, she wanted to fill those hollow spaces inside him. Apart, they'd been a little broken, but together they were finally whole.
Epilogue
Three months later…
The Library Café near the Westbridge campus was busy for a Tuesday morning, filled with students hunched over laptops and professors grading papers. Haley sat at a corner table, her laptop open, putting the final touches on her investigative series exposing corruption in elite academic institutions. It was a three-part series, and the first part, focusing on Westbridge, had already garnered widespread attention, especially with the media avid for information to enhance their reporting on the upcoming trials of the key players.
Drew Sanderson and Henry Adler had been charged with multiple crimes and denied bail. She loved that they were still sitting in prison, away from their fancy lives, designer suits, and expensive homes. The rich boys had finally been brought down to earth.
Jill, Trent, and Brooke had all made deals for immunity while revealing evidence about the conspiracy network. Kyle Vance, Charles Adler, and Graham Adler were in the midst of making plea deals, and the individuals responsible for Brooke's stabbing and Justin Harrington's attack had also been arrested and charged with multiple crimes, including attempted murder.
The LA field office of the FBI had undergone a thorough audit with the director, Rebecca Markham, and Matt's former partner, Shari Drummond, now awaiting trials for fraud, obstruction of justice, and other charges. Two other individuals at the FBI were also being investigated.
Senator Matson was under investigation as well but had yet to be officially charged as they continued to build a case against him.
The entire Westbridge alumni network had come under a great deal of scrutiny, and there were now other journalists, as well as the FBI and the police, who were working on uncovering crimes, bribes, and payoffs committed by other individuals tied to the university. It would take a while to catch everyone, and there would probably be people who slipped through the cracks, but the school's reputation and alumni network had been severely damaged.
As for the launch of the algorithm, the market had bounced back after the warm-up fall, and thankfully, fully recovered without the chaos and mayhem that Drew and Henry had desired.
Kent Sanderson's company had lost a lot of money, and while he'd been oblivious to his son's dangerous intent, his reputation had taken a hit, and his investors were leaving him in droves, lowering his net worth by a great deal.
Also, in the plus column, Anthony Devray's complaints against Meridien Developments were now being reinvestigated, and Matt was determined to make sure the players responsible for the fraud at Meridien went down, and Anthony could finally be free.
But the most satisfying result for her personally was that Landon's algorithm was now being used by the SEC to detect and prevent exactly the kind of financial crimes that had killed him. Her brother's work was finally going to help protect investors, the way he'd wanted.
"Mind if I join you?"
She looked up to see Matt standing beside her table, holding two cups of coffee. He looked good—rested, happy, more relaxed than she'd seen him in months.
"I was wondering when you'd show up," she said, closing her laptop. "You said you'd be here by ten."
