Page 277 of Secret Heir For The Billionaire Twin

My chest aches.

“I’m not asking you to marry me because we lost time,” he says.

“I’m asking because I want all the time we still have. I’ve loved you through distance, anger, misunderstanding, and finally the truth. Now I want the privilege of loving you when there is nothing left standing between us.”

I wipe beneath one eye, but it is useless.

Julian takes a breath.

“I choose you, Sophie. I choose Theo. I choose this life every single day, if you’ll let me.”

His eyes stay on mine.

“Marry me.”

For a second, I cannot get the word out.

Theo looks up at me, already grinning.

“Mom, you’re supposed to say yes.”

I laugh through the tears and look down at him.

“I know.”

Then I look back at Julian.

“Yes!”

His expression changes immediately. I nod, crying harder now.

“Yes, Julian. I’ll marry you!”

Julian slides the ring onto my finger, and my hand shakes enough that he steadies it in his.

When he stands, I barely give him time to close the box before I wrap my arms around his neck.

He kisses me softly, one hand settling at my waist while the other cups the side of my face. There is no urgency in it, only warmth and certainty and the quiet relief of finally standing in the same place at the same time without anything hidden between us.

Theo does not tolerate being left out for long as he throws his arms around Julian’s waist and presses himself between us. I laugh against Julian’s shoulder.

Julian reaches down and pulls Theo closer until the three of us are tangled together in the middle of the garden.

I look at them and feel something inside me settle.

For so long, I believed protecting Theo meant keeping these worlds separate. I thought safety lived in distance, in control, in making sure Blackwell never touched the life I built here. I was wrong about what he could gain.

Julian has spent the last several months proving that he is not here to take anything from us. He is here because he wants to stay.

Theo looks up at Julian, still smiling.

“She said yes, Daddy!”

Everything inside me stops. Julian has the same reaction as well as his eyes drop to Theo. For a moment, he says nothing. Then his expression softens in a way I have never seen before, and he bends slightly to pull Theo tighter against him.

I feel the chunks in my throat rise.

Theo has never called him that before.