Chapter 12 - A Sovereign’s Ruthless DecreeDante didn’t hesitate.
He dropped onto one knee on the damp sand of the private beach, surrounded by the crashing waves of Long Island Sound and the crying of the gulls overhead.
He opened the velvet box.
Resting inside was not a commercial, modern diamond bought from a Fifth Avenue catalog.
Inside sat an exquisite, hand-crafted ring of solid platinum, featuring a flawless, six-carat cushion-cut Colombian emerald cradled by two delicate leaves carved from white gold—a custom ring designed to match the historic necklace resting over my heart, crafted by the master goldsmiths of Milan.
“Nora Williams,” Dante began, his deep baritone carrying an emotional tremor that shook my entire being.
“Three weeks ago, you entered my dining room carrying silver trays on a broken hand, fighting through agony and fear just to pay for your sister’s medicine. 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 sixty armed men and spoke the truth when everyone else was silent. You protected my mother’s memory with your own body, you brought light into a house of shadows, and you taught me what family really means.”
He lifted the emerald ring, holding it poised before my trembling finger.
“Nora Williams, 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 cold cheeks.
“Yes,” I choked out through my laughter, throwing my arms around his neck as he rose to his feet. “Yes, Dante! A thousand times yes!”
Dante swept me up into his arms, lifting me off the sand, 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.
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He slid the emerald ring onto my finger.
It fit with absolute, divine perfection, gleaming brilliantly beneath the morning sun.
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