Chapter 13: The Proposal

One year later.

Lily stood in a hospital room wearing scrubs. Having just completed her first shift as a licensed practical nurse. Her feet ached. Her back hurt. She smelled like antiseptic and hard work.

And she’d never been happier.

Sal was waiting outside. Leaning against his car. Looking utterly out of place among the hospital staff coming and going. But his face lit up when he saw her.

That rare, genuine smile that he saved only for her.

“How was it?” he asked as she reached him.

“Exhausting. Terrifying. Perfect.”

She melted into his embrace. Feeling his arms come around her—solid and sure.

“I helped save someone’s life today. A little girl.”

“I’m proud of you.”

He kissed the top of her head.

“More than you’ll ever know.”

They drove home through the city he ruled. And she was learning to navigate on her own terms. The security detail followed at a distance. Still there. Still vigilant. But less oppressive than they’d once been.

They’d found a balance. Sal and her. Between protection and freedom. Between his need to keep her safe and her need to live her own life.

That night, after dinner in the garden and wine on the terrace, Sal took her hand and led her upstairs to their bedroom.

But instead of the passion she’d expected, he sat her on the bed.

And knelt before her.

His stormcloud eyes serious.

“What are you doing?” she asked. Her heart suddenly hammering.

From his pocket, he withdrew a small velvet box.

“They said I was too old for this. Too damaged to ever be anyone’s husband again.”

Tears pricked her eyes.

“Sal—”

“But you did what no one else dared, Lily. You loved me anyway. You saw past the age, the violence, the darkness. And chose me. Every day, you choose me.”

He opened the box.

Revealing a ring that caught the lamplight. A sapphire the color of midnight surrounded by diamonds.

“So I’m asking you to choose me one more time. Marry me. Build this life with me. Let me spend whatever years I have left proving that love doesn’t have an expiration date.”

“Yes.”

The word came out choked with emotion.

“Yes. Of course. Yes.”

He slid the ring onto her finger with shaking hands. Then pulled her down to the floor with him. Holding her like she was the only thing keeping him anchored to this world.

“I love you,” he whispered. “My brave, beautiful girl who dared to love a monster.”

“You’re not a monster.”

The same truth she’d repeated a hundred times.

“You’re just a man who loves me. And I’m just a woman who’s crazy enough to love you back.”

“Crazy.”

He agreed, smiling against her lips.

“Definitely crazy.”

“But happy.”

“Deliriously happy.”

He kissed her. Deep and slow and full of promise.

“They said I was too old for love. But you proved them wrong, amore. You proved them all wrong.”

And as they lay tangled together in the bedroom that had become theirs—the sapphire on her finger catching the moonlight—Lily thought about the journey that had brought them here.

From that first night at Javanni to this moment. Engaged in love. Building a life that defied every expectation and broke every rule.

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