Chapter 33 Isabella
Iwake to sunlight and Antonio's arms and the weight of a new ring on my finger.
For a moment, I just lie there, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against my back. His hand is splayed across my stomach, possessive even in sleep. The curtains flutter in the morning breeze, carrying the scent of roses from the garden below.
Roses. Seven hundred and forty-two of them, according to Elena's count.
I smile, turning carefully in his arms. He stirs but doesn't wake—unusual for a man who usually senses movement before I even think of making it. The wedding exhausted him. The wedding exhausted everyone.
But it was worth it. Every moment.
My gaze drifts to the nightstand, where a single pressed rose sits in a small frame. Elena's gift—the "forever flower" she found in Simona's books.
Antonio's mother, reaching across time to bless something she never got to see. I hope she would have approved. I hope wherever she is, she knows her son became someone worth loving.
"You're thinking too loud." Antonio's voice is rough with sleep. His eyes are still closed, but his arms tighten around me.
"Sorry. Go back to sleep."
"Can't. My wife is having deep thoughts at six AM. Very distracting."
"Your wife." I like the sound of it. Different somehow, even though we've been married for months. "Still getting used to that?"
"Getting used to deserving it." He opens his eyes, and they're soft in the morning light. Human. Tender. "The rose's vow."
"What?"
"Something my mother used to say." He reaches up, tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.
"About how roses promise beauty but deliver thorns to anyone who handles them carelessly.
She said the strongest people are like that—beautiful and dangerous, capable of drawing blood from anyone who underestimates them. "
"And you think I'm like that?"
"I know you are." His thumb traces my cheekbone. "You drew blood from me, Bella. Made me feel things I thought I'd killed. Made me face truths I spent years running from." A pause. "Made me better."
"We made each other better."
"Yeah." He pulls me closer, pressing his lips to my forehead. "We did."
We lie tangled together, watching the light strengthen. From somewhere in the fortress, I hear Elena's voice—already awake, already counting something, already filling our home with her boundless energy.
"I made a vow too," I tell him. "On that plane to Greece, when I didn't know if I'd ever see you again. I promised I'd come back."
"And you did."
"And I'll keep coming back. For Elena. For the girls we save. For us." I meet his eyes. "That's my rose's vow. To keep choosing this life. To keep choosing you. Every day. Forever."
His kiss is slow, deep, tasting of sleep and promise and all the years we have ahead.
"Forever," he agrees.
From the garden below, a cat yowls. A dog barks in response. Elena's laughter echoes through the halls.
Our family. Our fortress. Our future.
We are home.
THE END
Thank you SO much for reading The Rose's Vow and the entire Marriage of Revenge trilogy.