Chapter 13 - THE QUESTION ON THE SHORE
|
Three weeks later, the shores of Lake Michigan had frozen into vast, sculpted sheets of blue ice that caught the morning light like diamonds.
The city of Chicago was quiet under a blanket of fresh snow, preparing for the Christmas holidays.
At the Moretti estate, the festive preparations were in full swing.
A twenty-foot balsam fir tree stood in the grand foyer, decorated with thousands of gold ornaments and hand-strung popcorn that Mateo and Lily had spent three days making.
Mara was thriving, running the newly opened Moretti Family Recovery Foundation downtown, helping single mothers rebuild their lives after addiction.
The Bellini family had become nothing more than a cautionary tale whispered in the archives of the Cook County courthouse.
On a bright, freezing Saturday afternoon, Luca asked me to walk with him down to the private stone pier at the edge of the property.
I was bundled in a soft ivory wool coat with a fur-lined hood, my hands tucked into leather gloves.
Luca walked beside me in a heavy charcoal overcoat, his boots crunching rhythmically in the deep, powdery snow.
He carried a wooden basket in one hand, while his other arm was securely wrapped around my waist, guiding me along the cleared stone path.
“Where are we going, Luca?” I asked, laughing as a playful gust of wind blew snow across my cheeks.
“The lake is half-frozen today!”
“The best views are always on the ice, Claire,” he replied, a rare, boyish grin touching his handsome face.
We reached the end of the stone pier, where a sheltered cedar gazebo looked out over the vast expanse of blue water.
Inside the gazebo, Daniel had already lit a cast-iron chiminea, which crackled with sweet-smelling birch logs, radiating immense, comforting warmth.
Two thick wool blankets were draped over a cedar bench, and a thermos of hot spiced cider sat steaming on a small table.
Luca set the basket down, turned to face me, and gently pulled back the hood of my coat.
His fingers brushed a stray lock of dark hair behind my ear, his touch sending that familiar, delicious warmth racing through my veins.
“A year ago, Claire,” Luca said softly, his deep voice carrying over the gentle lapping of the water against the rocks.
“I stood in this very spot and thought my life was empty.”
“I had conquered every rival, I had expanded the family territory from Milwaukee to Gary, and I was worth hundreds of millions of dollars.”
He looked out over the frozen lake, his jaw setting as he recalled the darkness of his past.
“And yet, I went to sleep every night feeling like a hollow shell.”
“I surrounded myself with people like Vanessa because I thought that cold ambition was the only thing I deserved.”
He turned his gaze back to me, and the raw vulnerability in his gray eyes took my breath away.
“Then you walked into my house.”
“You didn't ask for power, you didn't ask for jewels, and you didn't flinch when the room turned against you.”
“You protected my sister when I was too blind to see her pain.”
“You gave my son his father back.”
“And you taught me that the strongest thing a man can ever do is surrender his heart to a good woman.”
Luca slowly reached into his heavy overcoat pocket, pulling out a small, worn black velvet box.
My heart stopped beating entirely.
The freezing wind around the gazebo seemed to drop into absolute, sacred stillness.
Luca Moretti—the man before whom governors, judges, and syndicate bosses had trembled for twenty years—lowered himself onto one knee on the snow-dusted stone floor.
He opened the box.
Resting inside on a bed of white silk was an antique ring featuring a flawless, cushion-cut sapphire encircled by a double halo of brilliant diamonds.
“This ring belonged to my great-grandmother in Palermo,” Luca said, his deep voice trembling with an emotion he could no longer contain.
“She gave it to my grandfather with one simple instruction.”
“Never give it to a woman who loves your kingdom.”
“Give it only to the woman who will love you in the dark.”
May you like
He looked up at me, completely open, completely mine.
“Claire Bennett, will you do me the greatest honor of my life, and become my wife?”
