TILL D£ATH DO US APART
(The•Devil•I•Loved)
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Copyright © 2025
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★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
[One Year Later, February 14]Valentine has never smelled so good. Especially in Chicago.
Red and white signature, the faint snowfall, marking the approaching end of the winter season.
Then the smell of love. The neverending fragrance of romance.
All in all as Robert waited beside his limousine, checking his time for when Bacardi is gonna come out.
He’s in front of their dating apartment in the heart of Chicago, and he looks bang as usual.
When he checked his time for the third time, Bacardi finally decided to come out, looking eatable in her spaghetti dress, curled dark long hair and hips that are swaying as she walked stylishly to him.
He drew her closer by the hips first and planted a wet kiss on her lips first, then they shared a chuckle, their foreheads resting on each other.
“James…” She called his second name, and he grabbed her arse behind.
“I love you, boo.” She said cheerfully.
“I feel spoilt,” he replied, and she laughed, kissing him again.
“I love you, Cardi.” He replied, pushing her to the car where he kissed her properly once her back hit it. She chuckled again.
“We’re gonna be late for the fun!”
Robert opened the door for her, and she climbed in.
He joined her on the other side.
Thanks to the money Leonardo took for the Cooper family from the Armandos, they live comfortably now, proudly one of the richest family in this city.
Robert runs his own plastic manufacturing company now…large and popular.
Bacardi? She runs the Coker empire with her siblings, and she runs a Private Disco club too.
Life has been good, if not too good.
—
[Cooper Mansion]“Roll! You heard me, roll! If I don’t kill you then I’m not Ginny Jewel Cooper!” Ginny screamed.
She’s on top of a couch, impatient and stressed as she gamed with Tierney who sat on a couch calmly.
“Can’t believe you ditched going to work today and decided to play with me. A 21 year old CEO who plays too much!” Tierney laughed.
“Stop talking!” Ginny sneered, and he just laughed again.
Ginny is a fresh college graduate, but her cyber company has even been established before she graduated.
Now she’s the CEO of Gin-Gin Global, but she’s a lazy one obviously.
She won the game, and she threw her remote away, dancing.
“Shit,” Tierney palmed himself In the face, sulking.
Erica and Leroy came downstairs together, and Ginny instantly stopped screaming to stare.
“Mum! Dad! Ouu!”
Erica turned around, and Leroy did the same. They’re both dressed for the valentine’s outing.
“You look sweet, mum. You’ve always been handsome, dad. Mhua!” Ginny blew them kisses.
“Love you! I’m gonna go paint Chicago red with your dad!” Erica winked.
“With a mix of white, and her moans!” Leroy added.
“Aww!” Ginny gushed.
Tierney grinned, and the couple waved as they left the house.
They’re now joint owners of Cooper Constructions. They took Armando Constructions place totally.
Now, it’s Cooper Constructions name everywhere.
They’re mad rich.
“Do you wanna go out too?” Tierney asked Ginny.
“Out with a gay like you?” Ginny scoffed.
“No don’t insult my sexuality! We can just go out as friends! You’re my best friend arsehole!” Tierney shouted.
He went after her as she went upstairs.
Tierney still works as the Coker empire cyber brainiac, and he makes his money coo.
He’s a silent millionaire.
—
[House Of Cokers’, Waste bins Corner]Valerie stood there, currently clipping her hair together with a frown on her face.
When she finished clipping, she picked up a stick in front of herself and swung it forward, hitting an old man sitting there with it.
An old, smelly man.
His white hair covered his whole face like he hasn’t shaved for years.
He sat there, clothes tattered and skin rotten in the middle of the garbage.
“Papa Esposito! You’ve barely cleared out half of the garbages! Are you waiting for your allies to come help you again? Or your brigadiers?” Valerie hit him with the cane again.
Marko didn’t move.
“Is he giving you attitude again?” Emma appeared, taking the cane from Valerie.
She slammed Marko very hard with the stick, and Marko struggled hard to his feet. He has one ear now.
“Get to work, Papa Esposito!” She shouted.
Valerie laughed, resting her elbow on Emma’s shoulder.
Together, they watched as Marko gathered the bins.
Thanks Nino’s promise to Hilda, Valerie was called back to the estate, and she has been here since then, closer with Emma and in charge of supervising Marko’s shifts.
—
[Stanley and Bobby’s Suite]Yeah…the togetherness is intentional. Stanley and Bobby stay together in a suite. All day, all night.
Bobby is currently making searches about his suit for tonight’s date, but he’s not seeing anything yet.
He has a suit already, but he’s indecisive about clothes.
He was still scrolling when Stanley entered with a plate of sliced apples.
He placed it on the table in front of Bobby, then he stood behind him, stretching his arms from there to the front, caging Bobby.
“You have a suit already, dummy. Why the hell are you always indecisive about wears?” He complained.
“I’m only decisive about Leo’s jackets… shut up..I know that’s your next line.” Bobby replied.
Stanley grinned, but then he turned Bobby around to face himself.
He snatched the phone from him and put it down, then sneaked a little kiss to his lips.
Bobby smiled.
“What exactly do you want?” He whispered, resting his hands behind the table at the back.
“You. Stop pretending. I promised to make you cûm thrice last night, but I only did two, and you slept off dummy!” Stanley scolded, holding his chin to keep him still.
“I was tired, fool. And is dummy kinda like your endearment name for me? You can do better.” Bobby frowned, pulling Stanley’s hair.
“Coming from someone who takes pleasure in calling me a fool,” Stanley replied, his face hanging up cos of how Bobby is pulling the hair.
“Aren’t you a fool? Deny it.” Bobby replied, placing a kiss on Stanley’s Adam’s apple, then he licked it.
“F+k…A fool for you?” Stanley groaned.
“A dummy for you, works both ways…” Bobby replied, and their smiles mirrored.
Stanley’s eyes caught Bobby’s phone screen, and he blinked when he saw multiple call attempts to Leonardo.
“He’s still not picking your calls?”
“When he was here, he never talked to me since last year. I think he’s gonna be mad at me for the rest of his life for keeping the wooden bullets secret.” Bobby sighed, turning off his phone screen.
“Can’t even defend you, you’re a menace,” Stanley smiled.
“I know, and I feel guilty…” Bobby replied genuinely.
“It shows. I know you went to her grave last month to drop white hydrangeas.” Stanley said, looking into his eyes.
Bobby nodded.
“But hey… don’t ruin the mood!” Stanley held his face, and Bobby chuckled, sighting the plate of sliced apples.
He picked one of the slices and placed it between his lips.
He left it there, then gave Stanley a calling gaze.
Stanley didn’t stall. He went for it immediately, eating half of the slice on Bobby’s lips till their lips met.
It resulted in a kiss.
Bites. Pulls. Grunts.
It took off their clothes, and before they knew it, Bobby was already bending Stanley over the table, f+kin’ him brutally.
Clothes on the ground, lube bottle laying on it’s side, undies trapped between the clothes.
Stanley moaned.
—
[Anthony’s Suite]The loud cries of Hilda filled the suite as she’s expecting her mother to come carry her, but it seems it’s not happening anytime soon
She’s crawling and toppling slowly around the living room, looking for her mother.
Meanwhile, Anthony and Felicia are in the kitchen, kissing.
At the second minute, they broke the kiss and both ran out of the kitchen.
Anthony carried baby Hilda, and her tears stopped immediately.
“Such a witch. Can’t remember the last time I had my husband to myself cos of you…” Felicia scoffed, pulling her cheek playfully.
Hilda held her father tighter, and Anthony smiled.
“Your mum is a jealous one, you shouldn’t listen to her shenanigans,” he said, kissing Hilda’s cheek.
Hilda cooed happily.
“Wow! I’ll just tell Daddy Leo to not get you delicacies when returning from Britain,” Felicia said.
“You know Leo loves you more than anything, Hilda. He won’t listen to your mother.” Anthony said.
Baby Hilda squealed, raising her hands in the air.
Both Felicia and Anthony laughed, but then Nino and Sandra entered.
Dressed for the valentine’s outing too. They’re holding hands.
“Is this a ploy to make us jealous cos you know I and Anthony won’t be going out?” Felicia scoffed.
“Are you even asking? It’s obvious.” Anthony sighed.
“Mum! Dad!” Sandra laughed.
Nino’s arm went around her waist, and her head on his shoulder.
“You can just drop Hilda for a babysitter,” Nino said.
“Oh you know this witch will never sit with a babysitter. She’s too energetic. She came with late Hilda’s energy.” Anthony said.
Nino chuckled.
Sandra dropped a kiss on baby Hilda’s cheek, and the baby squealed happily again, touching Sandra’s hair.
“Your big sis is gonna go get the valentine’s day fun, ok? Stay here and haunt your parents till I’ll be back!” She said.
Hilda made happy unintelligible sounds, and Sandra laughed.
“Warehouse operations and missions resume tomorrow, let’s go have fun today before the day ends!” Nino laughed too, pulling Sandra out of the suite quickly.
— — —
[Britain, Inside The Yacht]The air felt intentional, felt right… just about the right amount.
The yacht sat stable on the water, but it’s not moving.
It sat on the shore.
Leonardo stood at the cabin, his white shirt buttons down. His white shorts hung low on his waist.
He stood where with a bottle of Teaser Caesar wine, and he was about to take another sip when Ivanna came out of the VIP suite.
She wore a see-through white gown just like she did the other night.
G-strings beneath it. No br@, no overanalyzing.
Her hair is straight, falling over her back, and her fresh feet is bare…free of footwear.
The anklet sat wrapped around her left ankle, and she’s holding a glass of the Teaser Caesar wine too.
“Babe,” she sounded.
“Darling witch,” Leonardo smiled, dropping his glass on the ground.
He rushed to her, but before he could touch her, she left.
It’s his imagination. A damn imagination.
He folded that hand and turned.
Beside the river, there’s a black building—Ivanna’s Private Gravesite.
Gold letterings were used to write JOYCE NIKOVA in front of it.
It looks like like Leonardo’s fake gravesite in Chicago with the gold and diamonds, but this one is more grandiose.
It’s closed. Only Leonardo and the Cooper family have the card to enter.
The other people who come to visit can only stay outside, and that’s why right now there are so many flowers surrounding the building.
Leonardo began walking to it.
<Last Year>
“Joy!!!… No….. Joy!!!!!!!!!!!!” Leonardo cried as he began running..to her lifeless body.
When he arrived there, she was already on the ground with just little life left in her chest.
He sat on the ground, his heart shattering as he lifted her limp body onto his laps.
Seeing her intestines outside, he screamed, covering it with her palm.
“J… Joy….” He muttered, his body shaking so much suddenly as her blood soaked his palm.
His chest constricted…it blocked completely. He couldn’t breathe.
Ivanna held his hand gently, smiling sadly at him.
“Are you gonna cry?” She said.
Even with tears in his eyes, he replied…
“No. Never.”
Ivanna smiled, pushing the anklet into his palm.
“You could have told me. You could have fuckin told me!!! I’d do anything for you Joy! Any fuckin thing even if it means dying to reach it! You could have…you could have…told me….” He cried bitterly.
“Told you? Then you’d have tried to stop my death, and things wouldn’t have ended happily like this.” She said weakly.
“Happily?” He sniffled.
“We weren’t meant to be, Leonardo. Not in this lifetime. I didn’t die for you, I choose to die with my rapist mother, and I wouldn’t let you mess with that choice. If I didn’t jump in front of mum’s bullets to let them hit me, then I’d have shot myself in the head eventually.” She replied.
Her skin already turned faint blue… and he could clearly see the red veins carrying blood around her body—result of the poisoned bullets.
Leonardo sniffled again.
“When I die, the Cooper family can finally live in peace and wealth, and the wicked betrayer who shot you would finally be gone. This is the perfect ending” She smiled.
“You shot me to save my damn life! Don’t you dare blame yourself when you did everything for me! Don’t dare do that when you lived all your life to…. protect me from your… mother….” Leonardo hiccupped.
“I have only one shameless request if you could….please…have me buried beside that river in Britain….beside the yacht. I loved the ambience and the fireworks and… and… The…the cold river air.” She stuttered, losing the slight thread of life in her.
Severally, Leonardo nodded, his fingers shaking on her tummy.
“Did you…” He hiccupped again.
“Did you…ever love me?” He asked the heavy question again, his tears soaking his face.
Ivanna just smiled and rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb.
“Leonardo Coker, know that the happiness I had whenever I was with you? They were raw, and real. I never faked them.” She spit out blood.
Her eyes closed, and she didn’t move anymore after that.
“Joy…” He sounded.
Ginny and Robert and the parents are already crying behind them.
Marko has been held down, and the fight is over now.
Monika’s dead body is still bleeding.
“Joy! Joy…. Joy!!!!!!!!!” Leonardo screamed at the top of his voice, hugging her dead body and attaching his lips to her dead lips.
The tears he shed at Crimson Cave is nothing compared to this.
He cried, and ran mad at the same time. It felt like his mind has left him, like his heart has been sold to the wolves. Like his soul died with her.
He felt null, void, empty.
He felt dead.
<Present Time>
Leonardo is already inside the black grave building.
He’s seated on top of her grave.
The bottle of Teaser Caesar wine is beside him, and beside the bottle, there’s a mental health evaluation check result document. He’s living with no sanity…at all.
He’s a human bomb that can detonate anytime. The only thing keeping him out of the psych ward is his Godfather position.
His phone is also beside him on that grave, bleeping repeatedly with messages from family especially Bobby, but he’s not even looking.
He turned it off and smashed it, then brought a pill bottle out of his pocket—his mental stability pills.
With blurry red eyes and mad hot temperature, he took two and swallowed without water.
He’s wearing Ivanna’s diamond-studded anklet on his wrist now instead of wristwatch.
Also, her inhaler—he carries it around now instead of his lighter, and he carries lollipop around instead of cigarettes.
He’s still the Godfather of Naked Eve, but he doesn’t draw n+kedness again. Now he draws bare nature.
Horrors and darkness. Especially witches. He’s an horror artist now.
He has left the warehouse for Bobby and the siblings to manage.
Then the missions are for Anthony and the rest of the mob.
No one’s useless in the empire.
Even Marko is useful as the waste bin handler.
And no one will ever be useless.
But Ivanna’s place is still there.
Whip Huntress. Her Whip is still hung in his living room, and her belongings has been packed into the biggest room in his mansion.
She mightn’t be here, but she still has a space here, and his heart.
Forever. His heroine.
He has spent one year in this Britain now, and everyday he comes to this grave to sleep, draw and send his work over to Chicago for auction.
Seems he’s gonna spend eternity here as it is.
He adjusted on the grave and lay down gently on it.
Dusk—the cat his beside him. She’s his closest friend now.
At exactly 10pm, drones started appearing in the sky outside, writing like he payed them to do…
FOREVER YOURS, JOY NIKOVA.
He has been writing that in the sky since last year every damn night.
That’s what he makes money for, and that’s how it’s gonna remain forever.
He stared at the writing in the sky through the open blinds of the glass walls, then he shut his eyes as a gentle air blew him.
“I’ll always love you, darling witch.” He whispered in a mad starved voice, kissing her inhaler deeply.
Love can be wicked, too.
THE END.🌹
Some heroines weren’t born to fight, but they carve the path to the battlefield themselves—and they fight to win. Death isn’t defeat, it’s a haven for heroines — Naomi Cindy.
OUR NEXT BOOK COVER WILL BE OUT TOMORROW AND WILL START OFFICIALLY ON MONDAY, MAKE SURE YOU’RE HERE.
Phew! My longest book ever! For the encouraging engagements? Thank y’all, and keep it going like that during our next book.
Now discuss with me…
What’s your saddest scene in this book?
Funniest scene?
Favorite scene?
Best male character?
Best female character?
Best couple?
The villain you hate most?
Who’ll you miss most?
Who’s your best among the Esposito/Coker siblings?
Say something sweet to me.
Black 🖤
