I nod and sit up straighter, heart already hammering.
“I am not a good man.I should’ve never let you near my world,” he says.“What happened to you…the fear, the danger, you being taken from me, all of it is because of what I am.What I chose to become.And I can’t—” His voice breaks, and he swallows hard.“I can’t forgive myself for that.For letting you get hurt.For dragging your light into my dark.”
My throat burns.He lifts his gaze to mine, and I’ve never seen him look so raw, so stripped of the power he wears like a second skin.
“But,” he whispers, his knuckles caressing my cheek, in an achingly tender gesture, “I don’t regret taking you for myself.Not for a second.You were the one thing I was never meant to have, and now you are the only thing I can’t live without.”
I try to speak, but he presses a finger gently to my lips.
“You are everything to me, Lily.You are my salvation and my undoing.My peace and my fury.My queen.”He cups my face between his palms, reverent and aching.
“I love you.”
Tears slip down my cheeks, silent and burning.
He leans forward, pressing his forehead to mine, breath shaking.“I’ll leave it all behind,” he whispers.“The mafia.The power.The empire.I’ll walk away from it tomorrow.Hell, I’ll burn it all down if you ask me to.Just say the word.Marry me.Be mine in every way, I’ll follow you anywhere.”
I pull back just enough to see him, to let him see me.
And I smile.
“No,” I say.
His face goes blank.Then something flickers—pain, confusion, devastation, all tangled together in his eyes.
I reach for him, palms framing his jaw as I lean in and press a soft kiss to his cheek, then his lips.
“I’m not saying no to you,” I reassure him.He stares at me in confusion, eyes wary and breath coming out in sharp rasps.
I smile faintly.“Do you remember the first time you proposed to me in that restaurant?”
His lips twitch, but barely.“I said it was a merger.”
“You told me I’d have power, wealth, influence through you.”I arch a brow.“You made it sound more like a hostile takeover.”
He huffs a broken laugh, and I press a hand over his heart.
“And I said no.Because I didn’t want to be owned like some kind of helpless doll in a world ruled by money and violence.”I lift my chin now, letting him see the full force of who I’ve become since.
“But now?I want that power.Not to stand behind you, butwithyou.To use it to protect the people no one else does.The way you protected me.Avenge them the way you avenged me.”
His eyes burn into mine like he’s trying to memorize every word.
“You said I’d be a queen.”My voice goes softer.“Then let me rule beside you.”
“You want to stay?”His voice is almost disbelieving.“With me?”
I nod.“I want the whole storm, Dark.I want you, all of you.I don’t care how dark it gets, as long as we face it together.”
Emotion crashes over his face like a wave he’s barely keeping himself above.His hands tighten around me, grounding himself.
“I love you,” I say, fiercely now.“And I think I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you standing over a man with a bloody knife and murder in your eyes.”A smile curls at my mouth.“I think some part of me recognized you as mine, even then.”
A breathless chuckle leaves him.He presses his forehead to mine, and for a moment, everything is still.He exhales like he’s been holding his breath for years, then he stands and hoists me up to crush me against his chest, arms wrapping around me like he is never letting go again.
“Marry me,” he murmurs again, voice thick with emotion.“Tonight.Tomorrow.Say yes and I’ll build a world for you.”
“Yes,” I whisper into his neck.“Yes, Damiano.Always yes.”
