Chapter 6 - The Council of River BaronsLuca didn’t hesitate.
He dropped onto one knee on the flagstone terrace, surrounded by the late-blooming roses and the crying of the gulls over the lake.
He opened the velvet box.
Resting inside was not a commercial diamond bought from a retail catalog.
Inside sat an exquisite, hand-crafted ring of solid platinum, featuring a flawless, six-carat cushion-cut royal blue sapphire cradled by two delicate swallows carved from white gold—the historic engagement ring of his mother, Donna Maria Moretti, which had been locked in the family vault for twenty years, waiting for the woman who would bring honor back to their name.
“Emma Sullivan,” Luca began, his deep baritone carrying an emotional tremor that shook my entire being.
“Ten months ago, you entered this house carrying silver trays to keep your widowed mother in her home, fighting through exhaustion and fear without ever losing your dignity. You were surrounded by wealth, arrogance, and deceit, yet you never let this world tarnish the pure gold of your spirit.”
He took my hand into his massive, warm palm, his thumb gently caressing my knuckles.
“You stood before thirty-four armed men and pulled a gift from the trash because you knew that love was sacred. You gave my sister her daughter back, you gave me my family back, and you taught me what true honor really means.”
He lifted the sapphire ring, holding it poised before my trembling finger.
“Emma Sullivan, will you marry me? Will you be my wife, my partner, and the true Donna of my life, my home, and my empire?”
Tears of pure, unadulterated happiness spilled over my lashes, hot against my cheeks.
“Yes,” I choked out through my laughter, throwing my arms around his neck as he rose to his feet. “Yes, Luca! A thousand times yes!”
Luca swept me up into his arms, lifting me off the flagstones, spinning me beneath the vast autumn sky before bringing his lips down onto mine in a fierce, breathless, deeply tender kiss that sealed our destiny forever.
He slid the sapphire ring onto my finger.
May you like
It fit with absolute, divine perfection, gleaming brilliantly beneath the Chicago sun.
Anna and Grace cheered loudly from the conservatory doors, waving their aprons in the air, while Don Carmine Falcone raised his walking stick in celebration from the terrace below.
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