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EPILOGUE PT. I

❝DISTANCE CAN'T STOP WHAT'S MEANT TO BE.❞

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"Just bring the moving truck back here, please."

Justin watched the movers bring the old furniture into the loading truck and load the rest of the items into the truck as Justin watched.

Justin then heard a sigh come from beside him making him look to see Elijah step outside wiping his hands with his cloth, he then tossed it across his shoulder.

"How's it going out here?"

"Perfect, the new furniture is set up for this house. . .it'll be on the market by Monday."

"Amazing, come on."

Justin nodded and followed Elijah back over to his Cadillac parked to the side of the road in the suburbia and got inside as Elijah got inside the driver's side and started the engine.

Just before he drove off, he looked over at Justin and then did a double take when he saw him look down at his phone making him sigh.

"Justin. . ."

"Yeah. . ."

"Don't."

Justin huffed. "She. . .she said she'd call me. . ."

"And you'll wait, like she said, okay?"

"But—"

"Listen. . .what did you tell me when we talked about her? You and her are meant to be? Well. . .distance can't stop what's meant to be."

Justin licked his lips slowly and put his phone back into the pocket of his leather jacket and nodded as Elijah nodded slowly and drove off to head back to the office.

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Justin tossed his leather jacket onto the back of his black suede couch in the corner of his office and walked over to his desk and plopped down in the chair behind his desk.

A few seconds later, the sound of the office phone ringing made him crease his eyebrows and quickly reach for it and pick it up.

"E&J Studios, how may I help you?"

"Justin?"

"Jade? What—"

"You changed your number? You realize I've been trying to reach you for like the past few months. . .but then I got busy."

Justin scoffed. "Sorry. . .what's up?"

"What's up is your business! I hear it's booming! I'm proud of you, just called to congratulate you."

"Thanks, Jade. . .hey, can I ask—"

"No, Justin, I swore to Winnie and Peter I wouldn't get in your business anymore. . .but I'll tell you that Winnie's book is doing great."

Justin smiled. "I knew she could do it."

"Yeah, but I have to go, I'm at work and these dolphins aren't going to train themselves, bye!"

Justin simply chuckled and hung the phone back onto the hook and lean back in his seat and nibble on his thumbnail as he eyed his phone and office phone momentarily.

Does she even care? Justin thought.

She made it seem like she wanted to be with Justin when she called that night.

Winnie sat in the limousine that was taking her to the private jet, she bit her bottom lip softly and shook her head with her hands still in her lap.

What did I do? Winnie thought.

Winnie sharply inhaled a breath and shook her head as she pulled her phone out of her purse and pulled up Justin's ID in her call log and pressed the call button and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hello? Winnie? Are you okay?"

"No. . .no I'm not. . ."

"What's going on?"

"Justin. . .I made a mistake. . .I want to be with you, god. . .I'm so stupid."

"Winnie. . .no you're not, okay? You were thinking about your book, don't forget that."

"But Justin. . .I'm in love with you too."

There was a moment of pause between the call making Winnie blink away the tears forming in her eyes and crease her eyebrows.

"Justin?"

"Y-Yeah. . .I'm here. . .I just. . .I love you too, Winnie."

Winnie giggled softly. "So I've been told."

"But. . .you can't let this stop anything, okay? You need to go to New York and sell the hell out of that book, do you hear me?"

"But—"

"No no, remember? We're those star crossed lovers you talked about."

Winnie couldn't help but giggle as a single tear rolled down her cheek making her sniff and wipe it away.

"Yeah. . .we are."

"We'll see each other. . .I just don't know when."

"How about I give you a call. . .we don't talk for a while to get our lives together, but when I give you a call. . .then that's when we move forward with us."

"Yeah. . .I like that. . .listen, Winnie, my brothers on the other line. Call me when you're ready?"

"Of course."

"Winnie?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Winnie felt her heart flutter. "I love you too."

Winnie let the sound of her stilettos click as she walked past a screaming crowd in the lobby where her interview was taking place.

Smiling wide, she walked over to them and past her security to hug some fans, autograph a copy of her book, and take pictures.

After a few moments, Winnie felt a tap on her shoulder by her security guard making her turn around and see him tap his watch.

Winnie sighed softly and turned back to the crowd. "I must go, I love you all, thank you for reading my book!"

"Ms. Stone! Will there be a sequel?!"

Winnie stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at the teenage girl that was near the left side of the crowd and smiled softly.

"No. . .this was a special book to me, but can only be written for one special moment. Thank you."

Winnie heard the crowd go wild again as she walked off and headed to the elevator where Sydney waited for her with a wide smile on her lips.

"Hey, Syd."

"How's the hotel doing you?"

"I'm still adjusting to the time difference. . .but I'll be okay."

Sydney giggled softly and let Winnie walk into the elevator first and follow behind with the guards as they headed upstairs to get ready for Winnie's interview.

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Justin took a bite of his apple as he paced his office with his bank information in a file in the other hand with his eyebrows creased in concentration.

Just then, a knock at his door made him look up and see through the glass door Elijah waving before opening the door and coming inside.

"Hey."

"Hey. . .so, remember that married couple that wanted that indoor pool built by next week?"

"Yeah."

"Can we move it? I'm going back home to visit soon."

Justin huffed. "Shit. . .I forgot, I'm sorry, I'll get someone on it."

"No worries. . .any calls?"

"Nope. . .just trying to distract myself as usual."

Elijah snickered. "I'm going to get started on the new renovations for the other side of the building."

Justin nodded and watched Elijah head out of his office and shut the door back making him sigh heavily and sit his file down and bite his apple again.

Walking around his desk, he sat down in his seat again and grabbed his remote from the far side of his desk and turned the television on in his office on to the news.

"This is Fallon Williams here with an exclusive interview with one of our newest authors to hit the shelves, Winnie Stone."

Justin creased his eyebrows and leaned forward in his seat as he watched the screen switch over to Winnie seeing her sitting down with her hair straight in a curly style and dressed in a white spaghetti strapped crochet skin tight dress that stopped mid thigh with brown suede sandal heels on her feet.

"Thank you for having me."

"So your book Ocean Eyes. . .I have to admit I'm not one for romance novels, but when I picked this up in the bookstore. . .I swear, my husband had to force me to put it down and go to bed! It's amazing!"

"Wow, thank you so much."

"I gotta ask you. . .this book has everything. . .love, heart break, betrayal. . .what inspired you to make such a book?"

Winnie paused momentarily and licked her red lipstick coated lips and crossed one leg over the other.

"It's just. . .a few things inspired from what happened in my life. . .a few were fantasized."

As the interview continued, Justin became more intrigued by the minute — that was until Elijah walked back into Justin's office with rolled up blueprints in his hands.

"Justin?"

"Hm?"

Elijah chuckled. "I have the blueprints, wanna go over them?"

"Mm. . .," Justin hummed as he looked from the blueprints and over to the television letting out a sigh as Elijah rose an eyebrow. "Later?"

Elijah turned around and looked at the television and then back to Justin, letting a small grin come to his lips. "That's her isn't it?"

"Uh. . .maybe."

"Justin, she's beautiful. . .ragazza molto bella."

Very beautiful girl

"I know."

"Where is she now? Still in New York."

Justin noded. "She's on Good Morning America."

"What's that?"

"News channel for. . .well, America."

Elijah nodded and hummed in response as he sat down on the edge of Justin's desk and watched the interview along with Justin.

"You know. . .if I didn't know any better. . .I'd think you'd go to New York and see her."

Justin creased his eyebrows and heard Elijah laugh softly as he looked back at the television.

That's when Justin then had a thought.

"I should go out there."

Elijah creased his eyebrows. "I was jok—"

"I-I don't care. . .Elijah I need to see her."

Before Justin could speak again, he cut himself off and pulled out his phone to call his private jet making Elijah scoff and hop off the edge of his desk.

"You sound crazy, you can't just go out there."

Justin paused. "Why not?"

"Well. . .she doesn't know you're coming for one!"

"That's the point. . .Elijah can you handle business until I get back?"

Elijah's jaw dropped. "Are you serious right now?"

"I've never been more serious in my life. . ."

Elijah sighed softly and watched Justin get up from his seat and slip his phone into the pocket of his slacks as he walked over to the couch for his leather jacket.

"Well. . .at least buy me a 'I heart NY' shirt."

Justin chuckled. "You got it."

And with that, Elijah watched Justin speed walk out of his office leaving him there to watch the news seeing the interview ending up.

"Winnie Stone. . .I hope you're worth it."

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❤️

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