Chapter 6 - A REAL HEART
Eighteen months later.
The conservatory was filled with light once again. But there were no wine stains on the floor, no heavy security guards standing in shadow, and no arrogant socialites sneering from behind diamond rings.
The room was filled with hundreds of fresh white roses, their sweet fragrance drifting through the warm spring afternoon.
I stood before the large arched glass window, wearing a custom ivory lace gown that draped over my curves like a waterfall of silk. In the mirror, I barely recognized the woman looking back at me. My dark hair was styled in soft, elegant curls, my skin was glowing, and around my neck hung a simple, breathtaking sapphire pendant.
"You look like a queen, my dear," a soft voice said from behind me.
I turned around.
Carmela stood there, wearing a stunning silver dress. Her eyes were bright, clear, and filled with tears of joy. Beside her stood my father—healthy, upright, his face full of color thanks to a successful kidney transplant funded and organized by Dominic’s medical team six months ago.
"Dad," I whispered, stepping forward to wrap my arms around his neck.
"My brave girl," my father murmured, kissing the top of my head. "Look at you. I always knew you were meant for greatness, Skylar."
"Not greatness, Dad," I smiled, looking past him toward the conservatory entrance. "Just love."
The heavy double doors opened, and the string quartet began to play a soft, romantic melody.
Walking down the white carpet toward me was Dominic. He wore a fitted black tuxedo, looking as handsome and powerful as ever, but as his eyes landed on me, his entire face softened into an expression of pure, unadulterated devotion.
When he reached my side, he took both of my hands in his.
"You took a blow for my family once, Skylar Gallagher," Dominic said softly, his voice echoing through the beautiful room for all our guests to hear. "And today, I promise to spend the rest of my life protecting yours."
He slid a heavy platinum band onto my ring finger—a ring that bore no blood, no vanity, but only the quiet, unbreakable promise of a man who loved me for exactly who I was.
When he pulled me into his arms and kissed me under the glittering chandeliers, the entire room erupted into applause.
Down in the front row, Carmela smiled softly, touching her wrist where I had once held her hand in the rose garden, knowing that elegance was never about status or thinness, but about the size of the heart that beat within.
May you like
I wasn't Penny anymore. I wasn't the clumsy maid everyone laughed at.
I was Skylar Rossi. And I was home.
