Jess thought she'd never find another boyfriend, let alone have another ring on her finger.

Yet, here she was five years later engaged to be married. His name was Raffaello, an Italian entrepreneur he'd first introduced himself as. They'd met at a business socializing event in Atlanta, where Jess had eventually decided to move to, in order to build her new life. She'd had a rocky start but she was still armed with her fathers' money and so she quickly adjusted to this new life.

Her and Raffaello had hit it off right away, things had moved fast. Too fast, his family had said. You barely know the girl, they'd said. But nonetheless, now only seven months after they'd first begun dating, he'd placed a ring on her finger.

Jess had been ecstatic she'd practically screamed 'yes' from the restaurants' balcony; the location Raffaello had chosen to propose. But later on, that night, after they'd returned to Raffaello's apartment, and he laid beside her steadily sleeping, Jess laid awake, thinking. As she did most nights.

After everything that had happened, she'd become an almost nocturnal creature. Never being able to get a moments' shut-eye until five a.m struck. She felt Raffaello's arms wrap around her waist, as he leaned closer towards her.

"You not asleep, yet?"

"I'm not tired." She responded quietly, sitting up and perching herself at the edge of the bed.

"You're thinking about them, again, aren't you?" He asked, the tiredness manifesting itself in his thickly-accented voice.

"How can I not? Even when I'm miles away, they're always going to be here." She tapped against her left temple.

"What they did to you...what she did to you, it fucking makes my blood boil just to think about it. You should've gone to the police, you should've told them everything, she should be rotting in a prison cell right now, not roaming around, enjoying her life knowing that she ruined yours!"

"You don't get it, Raf, I'm scared of her. She murdered Elijah right in front of my eyes, and I couldn't do anything about it. She's dangerous." Jess lied, she wasn't proud of the words that were sprouting out of her mouth, but she couldn't stop them anymore.

The first time she'd told the lie had been after dinner with Raffaello's parents, she'd known they were wary of her and so that same night, she'd told him her sob story, how her best friend had taken the love of her life away from her, how she'd been responsible for her miscarriage and how Kylie had shot Elijah in front of her eyes and had threatened her to keep quiet.

She'd seen the emotion in Raffaello's eyes when she'd told him, she'd seen him melt. Guys loved a typical damsel-in-distress and so she became one for him.

And now, every time an argument would emerge, Jess would cry and Raffaello would melt all over again.

"I know baby, I know. I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that. I'm going to spend the rest of my life protecting you and putting a smile on your face, I promise. You deserve the world, Jessica." He brought his lips to hers gently as he spoke.

Jess allowed herself to nuzzle back into his side as she smirked to herself. She tenderly touched Raffaello's chiselled jaw as he fell back to sleep. She knew he was a keeper and now, she would stop at nothing to make sure the truth never caught up with her.

---------------------------------------------------

"Elijah, come downstairs!"

"No! I'm not going." He moaned in return.

"Please? Not even for me?" Kylie finally climbed the staircase and kneeled down to meet the young boy's eye-level as she jokingly pleaded with him.

"But...but mummy, every time I come with you, you take ages in every shop," Elijah whined, stomping his feet as he spoke.

"Okay, I'll try not to this time. But you know mummy gets really excited when she sees clothes that are on sale." Kylie chuckled in return, finally hauling the boy up in her arms and carrying him downstairs.

Weeks after Elijah's death, she'd finally taken her first step to becoming better. She'd seen a counsellor – three times a week at first. And she'd let it all out, all the pent-up emotions, she'd told them about her childhood neglect, she'd told them how she'd been molested by the bailiffs' in order for her and Jax to get out of paying their fathers' loans, she'd told them how she'd miscarried and been all alone. And lastly, she told them she was being eaten up every day by the guilt of Jax's and Elijah's death – how it all was her fault.

And in the midst of it all, she'd found out she was four months pregnant. She could barely believe it when the doctor had told her she'd been mistaking spotting for periods and her baby bump for mere bloating. She'd been through a lot, it was normal, the doctor assured. But Kylie was frightened, she'd been drinking throughout her early pregnancy – but thankfully the scans came back as normal.

At first, she'd been unsure as to whether she'd wanted to keep the baby, how was it fair that Jess had lost her and Elijah's baby and here, she was having his baby? And a dead man's baby at that. But Valerie and Libby remained by her side the whole time and convinced her that she deserved a second chance, that he was her second chance.

She'd wanted to call him Jaxon as soon as her scan had confirmed she was having a baby boy. She wanted him to be exactly like her older brother, to grow up to be a kind man with good morals. And so it came as a huge shock when he was born with a head full of chocolate-coloured curls and olive skin. And so, she named him Elijah Jaxon Campana.

It was a cruel fate, she'd thought, every time she'd look upon her son, she'd see his dead father staring back at her; a constant memory that she was partly responsible for his death.

From his very birth, she'd feared the day he asked about his dad. How could she explain that he was dead, that she'd had an affair and that he'd died as a result of trying to save her?

She'd tell him the truth, she'd told enough lies and she knew she couldn't look at her son and deny him the truth. Of course, she'd wait until he was older, but some nights she'd stay up, admiring her sons' beauty and wondering whether he'd ever be able to forgive her?

"How about this...since grandma's out at the moment you can't stay home with her but how about I take you over to Auntie Libby's house instead while I go shopping?"

"Yay!" The boy roared back in response and Kylie laughed, ruffling his hair.

Kylie visited Elijah's grave nearly once a week, and she could rarely ever keep herself dry-eyed as she sat there, talking to him. She'd sob for the life he'd lost, for the role of a father he'd been denied. Jax's death had been a horrid accident but Elijah – he'd died attempting to protect her. It didn't matter how many times her counsellor, Libby or Valerie told her it would get better, that one day she'd learn to stop blaming herself, she still struggled to shake the thought that Elijah's death was down to her.

She wished she'd answered him when he'd told her he'd loved her, she wished she'd had the courage to say it back. It seemed like a distant memory now, but she wished he hadn't gone without knowing her feelings for him were growing, maybe it wasn't love but it could've been if they'd had a chance.

"I wanna wear my Spider-Man mask, mummy." Elijah said, handing the mask to his mother and ordering her to help him put it on.

"Come on now, let's go." She replied, holding onto the boy's hand as they finally left the house.

They'd got past the house on their way to Libby's. Kylie knew that and maybe that's why she'd never changed her route. Word on the street was some new couple was finally moving in over this weekend – after five long years of no one daring to buy the so-called haunted house where a man had murdered himself.

As they scurried along the road, there they were. A young couple, probably in their mid-twenties unloading their luggage from their car, occasionally stopping to peck each other's lips.

Kylie could barely stop herself from crossing over the road. "Come on, Elijah. Let's go and say hi."

"Erm, hiya. I was just passing along, I live in the neighbourhood, and I just thought I'd pop by and say hi. Do you guys need any help with anything?" Kylie almost cringed at herself, she hoped she didn't come across as too nosy.

"Oh, thank you. That's awfully kind of you." The young Asian woman responded, "I think we're all good here, but...since you're from around here, you must've known the people who lived here before, right? We've heard a lot of...things."

"Well...I...I didn't actually know them that well...but of course, everyone knows what happened." She responded calmly; her mother had never allowed her to read the newspaper articles version of events but she knew that although her name was mentioned, no picture of Kylie was ever printed.

"Terrible, isn't it? Poor sod shot himself in the head because he couldn't choose between his mistress and his fiancé." The man who Kylie assumed was the woman's husband judging by the ring on his ring finger sidled up behind them and spoke. "Any luck and we might see him around." He joked tastelessly.

"Oh, shut up Eric." The woman rolled her eyes.

"Mummy, let's go!" Elijah wailed, tugging on his mothers' hand.

"Okay, okay. I'll see you around, maybe." She murmured to the two quickly before strolling away.

After a few moments, Kylie took one look back at the couple and saw the woman climbing the stairs into the home whilst her husband seemed pre-occupied with his neighbour, a glamorous blonde woman; the two of them standing a little too close, gazing at each other a little too intently.

Maybe, it was just a friendly chat or maybe the events of that house were destined to repeat themselves again.

But who was Kylie to judge? Her affair may have been wrong but Elijah had given her the one thing she needed the most – happiness in the form of their son. 

The end.

Authors' Note: So this epilogue ended up being slightly longer than I had originally intended because there was quite a bit I wanted to cover but I hope it's okay, overall!

I did get a little emotional writing it but I'm glad it's finally over. It's been a rocky ride but I'm so thankful for everyone who supported me. Please head over to the final authors for some Q+As that have been chosen directly from certain chapters from you guys, and some special thank yous! X

And as always, please do vote xo