Chapter 12 - Fire in the Estate
Luca reached into the box and lifted the delicate lace veil, letting it rest across his fingers before turning to face me fully.
He took both of my hands into his, his grip steady, warm, and filled with an intensity that took my breath away.
“When you carried this gown through that dining room, Hannah,” Luca said, his voice husky with deep emotion, “you carried the weight of my mother’s legacy while suffering in silence. You put yourself between a tyrant and the truth. You risked everything you had to protect the integrity of a family that hadn't even shown you proper appreciation yet.”
Tears welled up in my eyes, bright and clear.
“I just wanted to do what was right, Luca.”
“I know,” he whispered, reaching up to gently cup my cheek. “For five years, I lived in a world of shadows, surrounded by people who only loved my power, my money, and my name. Vanessa wanted an empire. But you... you saw a man who missed his mother, and you defended her memory with your own body.”
Luca slid down from the bench, dropping gracefully onto one knee on the marble floor before me.
From his pocket, he pulled a small black velvet box.
He clicked it open.
Inside rested a stunning, vintage platinum ring set with a flawless emerald surrounded by a halo of brilliant-cut diamonds—the very emerald ring Donna Clara Moretti had worn on her own wedding day forty-one years ago.
“Hannah Cole,” Luca said, his voice echoing with profound certainty through the sunlit conservatory. “You brought truth back into this house. You brought my uncle back from the dead. And you brought life back into my cold, empty heart.”
He looked up at me with open, unapologetic devotion.
“Will you do me the greatest honor of my life? Will you marry me, become my wife, and rule this family beside me as the Donna of the Moretti empire?”
A sob of pure, uncontainable happiness broke from my lips.
“Yes!” I cried, throwing my arms around his neck. “Yes, Luca! A thousand times, yes!”
Luca let out a triumphant laugh, lifting me off the bench and spinning me around the conservatory, holding me securely against his chest as the sunlight danced through the glass panels above.
May you like
He set me down gently and slid the emerald ring onto my finger. It fit as if it had been forged specifically for my hand.
He leaned down and captured my lips in a deep, passionate kiss that sealed our future forever.
