Chapter 13 - Cleaning House on Prairie AvenueLuca didn’t hesitate.
He dropped onto one knee on the flagstone terrace, surrounded by the snow-covered balustrades 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 olive branches carved from white gold—the historic engagement ring of his mother, Donna Elena Moretti, which had been locked in the family vault for twenty years, waiting for the woman who would bring honor back to their name.
“Olivia Hayes,” Luca began, his deep baritone carrying an emotional tremor that shook my entire being.
“Three weeks ago, you entered my dining room carrying serving platters with your hair brushed over a swollen eye, fighting through agony and fear just to keep your sister breathing. You were surrounded by wealth, arrogance, and deceit, yet you never let this world tarnish the pure gold of your spirit.”
He took my right hand into his massive, warm palm, his thumb gently caressing my knuckles.
“You stood before forty armed men and spoke the truth when everyone else was silent. You protected my family’s honor with your own body, you brought light into a house of shadows, and you taught me what family really means.”
He lifted the sapphire ring, holding it poised before my trembling finger.
“Olivia Hayes, will you marry me? Will you be my wife, my partner, and the true Donna of my life, my home, and my heart?”
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 winter sky before bringing his lips down onto mine in a fierce, breathless, deeply tender kiss that sealed our destiny forever.
May you like
He slid the sapphire ring onto my finger.
It fit with absolute, divine perfection, gleaming brilliantly beneath the Chicago sun.
