The Blood Debt

Epilogue

Dear Readers,

I know it's been a while, but here it is, the final chapter of The Blood Debt. Thanks for being patient. I know some of you might be disappointed with how it ends, and I did mull over it for the longest time, but in the end I decided to go with my gut. The Blood Debt was never an ordinary dark romance. Taking from a centuries old custom and modernising it into a contemporary romance, it started off as an idea that quickly became my passion project. So I guess once you get over the initial shock, it should come as no surprise that it ends the way it started - with its roots steeped in centuries old tradition.

I hope you enjoy it. Thank you to everyone who survived to the bitter end. As I always say, your support and encouragement means a lot.

- One year later -

Rejab

I marry Ayla exactly three months after Roman's death.

The clan decides our fate exactly seven days after Roman's plane crashes outside of Teterboro, but out of respect, the date of the civil ceremony is set for three months later in the City Clerk's Office. A nikah is organized for the same night following the ceremony.

Roman's flying back from Michigan, attending the funeral of a Senator who's been in his pocket for years. He calls me before he flies out saying he wants to see me and asks me to come over for dinner. He says he needs me to take care of an issue that's come up, but a few hours later as I'm gettin' ready to leave the wharf to head out to Brookville, another phone call comes through reception, but this one's from some guy saying he's from Airline Family Support. He tells me there's been an incident, just outside of Teterboro. He says Roman's Gulfstream encountered a wildlife strike as it began its descent into the airport. He says it was catastrophic and talks about fan blade damage and engine failure. I hear myself stutter when I ask him what a wildlife strike is, and he has to explain to me that sometimes birds collide with aircrafts on take-off or landing roll. He says the air traffic control tower reported seeing migratory birds in the area; Canadian geese, he tells me, migrate annually through the area en route to Northern Canada. He thinks I don't know that, but I do even if I don't tell him that, and for a moment I think Roman's behind this and he's fuckin' around with me because surely this can't be true, but when he asks me to get to Teterboro as soon as I can, something in his tone makes me realize that this ain't no prank. He says an FAA incident report is being prepared and next of kin need to ID the victims as soon as possible. He tells me how sorry he is for my loss as I'm left standin' there, long after he's hung up, holdin' onto the phone hoping somehow that none of this is real.

I hold off telling Ayla about the clan's decision until two weeks before the ceremony, making sure everyone else keeps their mouth shut in the meantime. It's probably the only secret our family has ever managed to keep, but it's got nothin' to do with discretion. It's because it's a secret so dirty that no one wants to speak it; a secret that has the Berisha women cursing the day they married into the family, but as the weeks tick by and Ayla floats around the house like a ghost in her grief, talking about moving into the city with her mom and Holly, I know I need to tell her so that she has enough time to take me to whatever hell she's going to take me to, and come back from it half sane before we exchange vows.

I tell her in Roman's office. It ain't Roman's anymore and it has me wondering if Roman felt like this when Esad died, like every part of his life was something taken from Esad's, but in my case it's worse because nothin's off limits, not Roman's wife, not even his kid. One minute they're his, the next minute they're mine; signed, sealed, and decreed by the clan, and while I might be the head of the East-coast's most powerful crime family today, I'm still a clansman, and a clansman always respects the rule of the clan, because without respect for the rule, there is no clan.