Chapter 10 - The Horizon We Chose
Later that evening, while the reception music echoed softly from the ballroom, I stepped out onto the glass-enclosed balcony overlooking the sprawling Connecticut estate.
The night air was cool and crisp, carrying the sweet scent of autumn leaves and blooming roses.
Footsteps echoed softly on the stone tiles behind me. A familiar, expensive scent of sandalwood and rain enveloped me, and a pair of strong, comforting arms wrapped securely around my waist, pulling me back against a warm, solid chest.
“Escaping your own party, Mrs. Vance?” Dante murmured against my neck, pressing a soft kiss to my skin.
“Just catching my breath,” I smiled, leaning back into his embrace, resting my hands over his. “It’s still hard to believe. Sometimes I wake up half-expecting to hear the radiator clanking in that tiny studio apartment.”
Dante turned me gently in his arms, his dark eyes shining with fierce devotion under the starlit sky. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, velvet-lined box, opening it to reveal a delicate, exquisite pendant shaped like a dragon crafted from white gold and embedded with a single, flawless ruby.
“You never have to go back to that cage, Elena,” Dante said softly. “You earned your freedom with blood and courage. And you earned my heart the moment you flew over my son.”
I reached up, tracing the rugged scar along his cheekbone with my fingertips—the scar that no longer looked like a warning, but like a map leading home.
“I didn't just save your son that night, Dante,” I whispered, a radiant smile breaking across my face. “I saved myself.”
May you like
Dante pulled me close, capturing my lips in a deep, passionate kiss that tasted of forever.
Down at the grand iron gates, the massive barriers stood wide open under the moonlight, welcoming the world in. And inside the Vance estate, the shadows had finally given way to an unbreakable dawn.
