68
Victoria
It’s beena crazy few days since my life changed, and I feel like I haven’t seen my husband in days.
I stop just inside the doorway of our room to find Lorenzo waiting for me.
“Before you say anything, I need you to listen.”
My fingers curl into the doorframe. “I don’t like that sentence.” A corner of his mouth lifts, barely. “I know.”
He takes a step closer and reaches into his pocket and pulls out a box before opening it.
Inside is a ring.
It’s simple and beautiful, and perfect in every way.
“I already married you.” I smile.
“That wasn’t the right kind of wedding,” he says quietly. “This,” he continues, lifting the ring between us, “is me asking. No leverage. No threats. Just love.”
Tears well in my eyes. “You do know we already have a kid, and another one actively using my bladder as a trampoline?”
His gaze drops instinctively to my stomach, softening in a way that still wrecks me every time. “I’m aware.”
“And we’ve been married for years.”
His mouth curves. “Stop being difficult, Little Bird, and say you’ll marry me. Again.”
I stare at him.
At the man who burned half the underworld to keep me alive. At the boy who never stopped leaving me rocks. At the father who pretends not to cry when our son falls asleep on his chest.
“Fine,” I say. “But you get a ring too.”
His brow lifts. “I don’t need one.”
Then I walk over to the desk and grab my own box.
He stills.
“I had a little help getting this from Marta. Don’t be mad. I was going to give it to you after the baby was born,” I say, opening it. Inside is a darker band. “This time, I choose it. I choose you.”
For a long moment, Lorenzo doesn’t speak.
Then he exhales like he’s been holding his breath for a decade.
“Christ.” He drags a hand down his face. “You’re going to kill me.”
“Eventually,” I promise. “But not today.”
EPILOGUE
Victoria
This place looks different.Maybe because so much has changed.
My parents are long gone now, living god know where. The moment I found out what they did to Lorenzo and me, I wrote them out of my life. And once Grant passed, it didn’t take long for them to lose everything.
