The bar in Chicago where a case of mistaken identity changed everything.
The penthouse suite where I gave myself to a stranger.
The estate where I was his prisoner and then his lover and then something far more complicated.
The battles we fought, the secrets we kept, the impossible choices we made.
All of it leading here, to this moment, to this man whose hand is warm and steady in mine.
"I believe you've written your own vows," the officiant says.
Dante clears his throat, and I realize with a start that his eyes are glistening.
"Hannah," he begins, his accent thicker with emotion. "Two years ago, you walked into a bar looking for someone safe. Someone boring. Someone who would never turn your world upside down."
Soft laughter ripples through the guests.
"Instead, you found me." His thumb traces circles on my palm. "I was a broken man when we met. I had power, money, an empire built on fear—and none of it mattered. None of it filled the emptiness inside me. I had resigned myself to a half-life, going through the motions for Mila's sake but never really living."
He pauses, collecting himself.
"Then you called me Kevin, and everything changed."
More laughter. I'm crying now, tears streaming down my cheeks unchecked.
"You challenged me. Fought me. Refused to break no matter how impossible I made things for you. You showed me that strength isn't about control—it's about knowing when to let go. You showed me that love isn't weakness—it's the only thing worth fighting for."
His voice drops lower, meant for me alone but carrying in the chapel's acoustics.
"You gave me Sofia. You gave me a reason to walk away from everything I thought I was. You gave me a future I never dared to imagine." He lifts my hand to his lips. "Ya tebya lyublyu, zaika. Today, tomorrow, forever. You're my home. You always will be."
I'm full-on sobbing now. Delilah passes me a tissue, and I dab helplessly at my eyes while trying to remember my own vows.
"Dante," I manage, my voice shaky. "When we met, I was looking for someone safe. What I found was the most dangerous man in Chicago."
He smiles, unrepentant.
"You kidnapped me. Held me prisoner. Threatened my family and turned my entire life upside down." I shake my head. "I should have hated you. For a while, I think I convinced myself I did."
The chapel is silent, everyone hanging on my words.
"But you were never really a monster, were you? You were just a man—a father, a protector, someone who built walls around his heart because he'd already lost so much." I squeeze his hands. "You let me see behind those walls. You trusted me with Mila, with your fears, with the broken parts of yourself that you'd hidden from everyone else."
A tear slides down his cheek. I reach up and brush it away.
"I didn't fall in love with the pakhan," I tell him. "I fell in love with the man who reads bedtime stories in silly voices. The man who would burn down the world for his daughters. The man who chose me—chose us—over power and legacy and everything he'd spent his life building."
My hand moves to my belly, where our daughter kicks in response to my elevated heartbeat.
"You gave me a family. You gave me Sofia and Mila and this little one who's already keeping me up at night. You gave me a life I didn't know I wanted—messy and complicated and more beautiful than anything I could have imagined."
I take a breath, steadying myself for the words I need him to hear.
"I'm yours, Dante Sokolov. Not because you claimed me, but because I chose you back. Today, tomorrow, forever. Wherever you go, I go. Whatever comes next, we face it together."
The officiant says something about rings. Mila steps forward with the pillow she's been guarding like a dragon hoards gold. We exchange bands—simple platinum, elegant and unbreakable, just like us.
"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife." The officiant smiles. "You may kiss your bride."
