Chapter 13 - The Altar Of Deception: Wedding Day Reckoning
Today was supposed to be the day of the multi-billion-dollar Mercer-Ashford wedding at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Instead of an altar of political convenience and calculated deception, the cathedral steps were quiet, the society wedding of the decade replaced by the historic trial of the century.
Dominic opened the velvet box.
Inside was not an ostentatious 12-carat diamond designed to impress the high-society vultures of Manhattan. Sitting on the black silk was an exquisite, vintage platinum ring featuring a rare, flawless cornflower-blue sapphire surrounded by a delicate halo of micropavé diamonds—the exact color of the morning sky over Central Park.
“This ring belonged to my grandmother,” Dominic said, his dark eyes vulnerable and completely stripped of his corporate armor. “She was an immigrant who worked in a textile factory while my grandfather sailed the tugboats. She told me to never give this ring to a woman who wanted my empire. She told me to save it for a woman who would stand beside me in the storm.”
Tears welled in my hazel eyes, spilling freely down my cheeks.
Dominic slowly lowered himself onto one knee on the marble terrace, forty-eight stories above the city, holding the ring toward me.
“Grace Howard... you walked into this penthouse as a ghost, and you saved my soul from becoming a monster. You fought for your family, and now I want the honor of fighting for you for the rest of my life.” He paused, his voice thick with emotion. “Will you marry me?”
I couldn't speak. The sheer, overwhelming beauty of the moment took all the breath from my lungs.
I dropped to my knees on the terrace floor in front of him, wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders, pulling his face against mine.
“Yes,” I sobbed against his lips. “Yes, Dominic. A thousand times yes.”
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Dominic let out a ragged, joyful breath, sliding the platinum sapphire ring onto my finger. It fit flawlessly, shining in the golden morning sunlight.
Then his hands framed my face, and he pulled me into a deep, passionate kiss that sealed away the years of pain, exhaustion, and fear, replacing them with the promise of an unyielding future.
