Chapter 15 - THE WOMAN WHO GAVE HIM BACK HIS FUTURE
One year after the night I first walked into Gabriel Moretti's penthouse, I stood beside him on the shore of Lake Michigan.
The evening was warm.
The sky glowed orange above the water.
Gabriel walked beside me with a cane.
Some days he still needed it.
Some days he didn't.
His recovery had never been simple.
But he had learned to celebrate progress without demanding perfection.
We stopped near the water.
He looked at me.
“Do you remember the first thing you said to me?”
I laughed.
“Probably something rude.”
He smiled.
“You told me I could crush your wrist or let you figure out why I was dying.”
I shook my head.
“You were a terrible patient.”
“I was.”
He took my hand.
“But you saved my life.”
I looked at him.
“The surgeons saved your life.”
He smiled.
“They saved my body.”
His expression softened.
“You reminded me I still had a future.”
Tears filled my eyes.
Gabriel reached into his coat pocket.
My breath caught.
He opened a small velvet box.
Inside was a simple diamond ring.
“Emily Carter,” he whispered, “I spent most of my life believing power meant never needing anyone.”
A tear slipped down his cheek.
“Then I met a woman who wasn't afraid to tell me I was wrong.”
I laughed through my tears.
He smiled.
“You stayed when I was angry.”
He swallowed.
“You stayed when I was afraid.”
My heart pounded.
“And you loved me when I didn't know how to love myself.”
I covered my mouth.
Gabriel lowered himself carefully onto one knee.
“Will you marry me?”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“Yes?”
I laughed.
“Yes, Gabriel.”
He slipped the ring onto my finger.
Then stood with my help.
We kissed beneath the fading sunlight.
And for the first time, Gabriel Moretti wasn't the most feared man in Chicago.
He was simply the man I loved.
A man who had survived betrayal.
Pain.
Loss.
And the terrible realization that his own family had nearly destroyed him.
But he'd built something new.
A life.
A home.
May you like
A future.
And a love that didn't require fear.
