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Taking a deep breath, I took Mila’s hand. “Come with me,” I said. She looked at me quizzically but allowed me to lead her away from our table.
We wove through clusters of guests until we reached the grand staircase—the very place where we’d first truly seen each other. The air seemed to hum with remembrance as I stopped and faced her.
“This is where it all began,” I murmured. Her eyes widened with realization.
“Right here? At the staircase?” she asked, her voice soft.
“Yeah.” My heart hammered against my ribs. “I saw you coming down these stairs in your blue gown…and I knew.”
Her cheeks flushed with color. “You knew what?”
“That you were going to change everything.” The words hung between us like stars waiting to be wished upon.
The crowd around us began to sense something in the air—like the drop in pressure before a storm. They started to gather at a respectful distance, their conversations ebbing into a sea of anticipation.
Mila glanced around, suddenly self-conscious. “Cass… what’s happening?”
“Just trust me,” I said, reaching into my pocket.
The room seemed to hold its breath as I took out the small velvet box and dropped to one knee before her. Her hand flew to her mouth as gasps rippled through our audience.
“Mila,” I began, my voice finding strength in its vulnerability. “From the moment you crashed into my world, you’ve been rewriting every rule I lived by. You taught me that wealth isn’t counted in dollars but in the laughter of children at a community center and the support of friends who stand unwavering by your side.”
A collective breath seemed to draw in around us as I continued, “You’ve given me a treasure no money could ever buy—the richness of a life shared with someone who sees beyond the surface.”
Mila’s hand trembled within my grasp, her eyes shimmering like the evening stars outside. “Before your father passed,” I confessed, my voice thick with emotion, “I asked for his blessing to marry you because he saw what I see—that you are extraordinary.”
Tears brimmed at the edges of her lashes, threatening to spill over as the significance of my words settled between us like snowflakes in a silent wood. “Mila Johnson,” I asked with all the love and hope that filled me to bursting, “will you marry me?”
The seconds stretched into eternity as I knelt before Mila, the ring offered in my outstretched hand—a silent testament to the question that hung in the air. Her eyes searched mine, brimming with a sea of unspoken thoughts. I waited, the rest of the world falling away until there was nothing but the two of us, suspended in this moment of suspense.
Her lips parted, but no sound escaped. She glanced at the ring, then back to my face—a silent conversation passing between us. Her hands trembled slightly as she reached out, not to take the ring, but to touch my cheek, her fingertips cool and gentle.
“Cass…” Her voice was a whisper, a breeze that could shift destinies. “This is… it’s so much.”
I nodded, unable to form words, my heart thundering its hopeful rhythm against my ribs. The crowd’s energy buzzed at the edges of my awareness—a tide of anticipation waiting to crash over us.
Around us, the world seemed to hold its breath—the clinking of glasses had ceased, conversations had dwindled into whispers that faded into silence. Even the distant hum of the city outside seemed to bow in reverence to her pending answer.
Mila’s gaze held mine, and a single tear escaped, tracing a glistening path down her cheek. Then her face broke into a radiant smile—the kind that dawned new days and melted away the shadows of doubt.
“Yes,” she breathed out, laughter mingling with her tears. “Yes, Cassius Portman, I will marry you.”
The crowd erupted into cheers and applause—relief and joy detonating in a symphony of celebration. The energy surged around us as if every soul in attendance rode the cresting wave of our love’s affirmation. They had been voyeurs to our story’s turning point and now reveled in its climax.
And there we stood—no longer a billionaire and a maid—but two hearts promising forever in a world that suddenly seemed boundless.
…
The story of Cass and Mila doesn't have to end here.
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My Bossy Billionaire
Chapter One
Jennifer
