Chapter 12 - Stripped of His Title: Noah’s Choice Between Billions and Blood
The entire ballroom gasped. Cameras flashed in a blinding frenzy of white light.
From my inner pocket, I pulled out a velvet box. Inside rested a flawless, five-carat cushion-cut diamond ring—the very ring I had designed for Elizabeth when we were twenty-five and broke, a design I had finally commissioned the day after Maya was born, hoping against hope that God would give me a second chance.
“Elizabeth,” I spoke, my voice vibrating with raw, unfiltered emotion that reached every corner of the grand hall. “Three years ago, I was foolish enough to believe that power came from the boardrooms and the wealth I accumulated. I let evil, bitter people convince me that you were holding me back, when the truth was you were the only thing that ever kept me human.”
Tears welled in Elizabeth’s gray-blue eyes, spilling over her flushed cheeks.
“You raised our daughter in the shadows with more bravery, more grace, and more love than I ever showed in my entire life,” I continued, my voice cracking slightly. “I don’t care about the Vance name. I don’t care about the billions. All I care about is being the man who deserves to stand beside you and Maya for the rest of my days.”
I lifted the ring toward her.
“Elizabeth Vance... will you marry me again?”
Eleanor Vance shrieked in fury, turning on her heel and storming out of the ballroom, completely abandoned by her high-society peers who were now cheering and applauding. Victoria Sterling covered her face in humiliation as reporters swarmed her with questions about the canceled merger and the insider trading allegations.
Elizabeth looked down at me.
She looked at the ring, then down at Maya, who was clapping her tiny hands in the stroller, delighted by the applause and the bright lights.
Then Elizabeth smiled—a smile of pure, unadulterated radiance that lit up the entire room.
“Only if you promise never to buy another custom suit without my approval,” she whispered through her tears.
I laughed, the sound bubbling up from the deepest, truest part of my soul.
“I promise,” I said.
Elizabeth held out her left hand, and I slid the diamond onto her finger. It fit perfectly.
May you like
I stood up, wrapped my arms around her waist, and lifted her off her feet, kissing her with all the hunger, all the reverence, and all the desperate love I had held inside my chest for three long years.
The room exploded into a deafening roar of celebration.
