Chapter 12 - THE FINAL VOW
That evening, the house was quiet.
I had put my mother to bed, read Leo three bedtime stories until he finally fell asleep, and sent Chloe back to the city with a promise to visit her on the weekend.
I was walking down the main hallway when Dante appeared.
“Ma’am,” the towering security captain said respectfully. “The Boss requested you meet him downstairs.”
“In the study?” I asked.
“No, Ma’am. The wine cellar.”
My stomach fluttered. I hadn’t been down to the cellar since the night Vanessa had struck me.
I walked down the stone steps, my hand trailing along the cool iron railing.
I pushed the heavy oak door open.
The cellar was transformed.
The oppressive, towering wine racks that had dominated the center of the room had been completely dismantled and removed.
In their place, the room had been opened up. A massive, beautiful wooden dining table sat in the center, illuminated by hundreds of soft, warm candles. A fire crackled in the stone hearth.
Luca was standing at the head of the table.
He wasn’t wearing a suit. He wore a simple black button-down, the sleeves rolled up, revealing the dark ink of his family tattoos.
He looked impossibly handsome.
“You tore it down,” I whispered, stepping into the warm light.
“I couldn’t stand looking at the place that hurt you,” Luca said softly, walking toward me. “I wanted to overwrite the memory. I wanted this room to be the place where everything finally started.”
He took my hands. His thumbs gently stroked my knuckles.
“When Arthur came in today,” Luca said, his voice thick with emotion, “I watched you stand your ground. You didn’t need my money. You didn’t need my protection. You are the strongest woman I have ever met.”
Tears pricked my eyes. “I needed you to believe in me.”
“I have always believed in you, Emma.”
Luca took a deep breath. The man who ordered armies and controlled empires looked genuinely, beautifully nervous.
He reached into his pocket.
He didn’t pull out a watch, or a gun, or a ledger.
He pulled out a small, worn velvet box.
He dropped to one knee on the stone floor.
“I have spent my whole life fighting in the dark,” Luca whispered, looking up at me with eyes full of absolute love. “But you brought the light into this house. You saved my nephew. You saved my soul.”
He opened the box.
Inside was a simple, elegant diamond ring.
“Emma Reed, will you do me the honor of being my wife? Of being Leo’s mother? Will you build a life with me?”
I looked down at the man kneeling in front of me.
I touched the family heirloom necklace resting against my collarbone. I thought about my mother upstairs, finally safe. I thought about the little boy sleeping peacefully down the hall.
The bruises had faded. The ringing in my ear had stopped.
The silence was finally broken.
“Yes,” I breathed, tears spilling down my cheeks. “Yes, Luca. Forever.”
May you like
He slid the ring onto my finger, stood up, and pulled me into his arms.
He kissed me under the warm glow of the candles, and for the first time in my life, I knew I would never have to be afraid again.
