Chapter 10 - The Garden of White RosesA year later, the cliffside estate of the Costa family looked entirely different.
The cold, oppressive silence that used to hang over the halls had been replaced by the warm, vibrant hum of life. The security bunker still operated three floors below, but Damian spent significantly less time down there now. The monitors were no longer his whole world.
In the sunlit courtyard behind the East Wing, Beatrice Costa sat comfortably in a cushioned wicker armchair, wearing a soft pastel cardigan, basking in the afternoon warmth.
Beside her, digging happily in the rich soil of a newly planted flower bed, was a row of pristine, blooming white roses—the exact variety Beatrice used to grow decades ago when Damian was a boy.
Tessa knelt beside the flower bed, wearing a simple cotton sundown dress and gardening gloves, carefully patting soil around the roots of a fresh rose bush.
Damian walked out from the French doors carrying a tray with two glasses of iced lemonade. He set the tray down on the patio table and walked over to the garden, crouching down beside Tessa.
He reached out, brushing a smudge of dark dirt off her cheek with his thumb.
Tessa looked up, smiling softly, her eyes sparkling in the sunlight. “You're getting dirt on my clean hands.”
“You're getting dirt on my pristine garden,” Damian teased lightly, a rare, warm smile spreading across his face.
Beatrice turned her head slowly, looking at them both. Her cognitive memory still flickered in and out like a distant lighthouse, but today, her eyes were remarkably clear.
“You two took long enough,” Beatrice chuckled, her voice raspy but full of amusement.
Damian chuckled, sliding his arm around Tessa’s waist and pulling her close against his side. “We had to make sure the foundation was secure, Ma.”
Tessa leaned her head against Damian’s shoulder, looking out across the sparkling expanse of the Atlantic Ocean where the waves crashed endlessly against the cliffs below.
The path that had brought them together had been forged in pain, debt, and shadows. But looking back at the nine days that had changed everything, Tessa knew one thing for certain:
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Some monsters did indeed announce themselves.
But true protectors didn't need to say a word. They just sat quietly, watched over the ones they loved, and made sure nobody ever hurt them again.
