Encrypted surveillance feeds monitored by specialists who rotated shifts.
He personally vetted every new staff member.
Background checks that took weeks.
Financial audits.
Psychological screening.
He eliminated risk before it ever reached our door.
When I asked him about it once, he simply shrugged.
“I promised no one would touch you again,” he said calmly.
“I intend to keep that promise.”
No theatrics.
Just action.
He kept something else too.
A small velvet box inside his nightstand drawer.
I discovered it accidentally while searching for a charger.
Inside lay a single emerald ring —my birthstone.
The band was engraved inside with the date Daphne was born.
He never formally proposed.
No speeches.
No public declarations.
But every anniversary of her birth, I would wake to find the ring slipped carefully onto my finger.
He would pretend innocence.
Sometimes he’d walk into the kitchen later and glance at my hand with mock surprise.
“Strange,” he’d say lightly. “It appears someone left jewelry on you.”
I would raise an eyebrow.
“Any idea who?”
He would smirk.
“Must be a ghost.”
But his eyes would shine with quiet satisfaction.
He understood symbolism now.
He understood that commitment wasn’t about control — it was about choice.
