Chapter 28 #2
"But I was scared, Lucas." The confession felt like ripping off a bandage, painful but necessary.
"Things had been so good between us these past couple of weeks.
I was happy, Lucas. Really, truly happy for the first time in years.
Leo was happy. For the first time since he was born, I thought maybe...
maybe we could actually make this work. Maybe we could be a real family. "
"And then I disappeared again."
"And then you disappeared again," I confirmed, the old hurt bleeding into my voice. "And Victor showed me those photographs. He said you'd only come back to me for the Black fortune, that I was still just a means to an end, that you were using me to get close to my father's business connections."
Lucas made a sound of disgust. "That bastard."
"I was heartbroken," I continued, needing to get it all out.
"I felt like such a fool for believing things could be different this time.
I needed a clean slate, a way out of the chaos, a way to protect Leo from getting hurt if you left us again.
And for a moment there, Victor's proposal felt like an escape, like a chance to start over with someone who wanted me for me, not for what I could give him access to. "
"Even though you didn't love him."
"Even though I didn't love him." The admission felt like pulling out a splinter—painful but cleansing.
"I thought love had brought me nothing but pain.
I thought maybe I could build something stable and safe with Victor, something that wouldn't leave me shattered if it fell apart.
But I couldn't just say yes to him. I wasn't that kind of woman, and maybe because I just couldn't bring myself to move on from you. "
Lucas was quiet for a long moment, processing my words. When he spoke again, his voice was soft with understanding. "I know that feeling. After you disappeared five years ago, I told myself I was better off without the complication of emotions. That business partnerships were safer than love."
"But they're not, are they?" I said.
"No," Lucas agreed. "They're not."
He reached out tentatively, his fingers brushing mine with the gentleness of someone handling something precious and fragile.
"I made mistakes, Alison. I let fear, pride, and other people's manipulations keep us apart.
But we have time to make up for them now.
If you'll have me—if you'll trust me one more time—I want to spend the rest of my life proving that you're not a pawn in anyone's game.
You're everything. You're my everything. "
I looked down at our joined hands. This man had turned his entire world upside down today, had risked everything—his reputation, his business relationships, his standing in the community—to stop me from making what he believed was a terrible mistake.
"I want that too," I said finally, my voice steady with newfound certainty. "I want us, Lucas. Really us this time. No more games, no more manipulation, no more letting other people dictate our choices."
The smile that spread across his face was like sunrise after the longest night, transforming his entire expression from haggard desperation to radiant joy. He stood, pulling me up with him, his hands framing my face with infinite care.
"I love you," he said, the words a vow and a promise. "I love you, and I'm going to spend every day proving it to you."
And then his lips were on mine, and the world disappeared.
The kiss was desperate and tender and full of promises—promises I finally believed he meant to keep.
It tasted like hope and second chances, like coming home after a long journey through the wilderness.
When we broke apart, I was breathless and dizzy and more certain than I'd been of anything in years.
"We should go back," I said, though I made no move to step away from him, reluctant to break the spell of this moment.
"Wait, one more thing," Lucas said, looking into my eyes with those beautiful amber eyes of his. "I want you and Leo to stay with me. Now that I have the two of you back, I don't want to be without you, even for a moment. Can you do that for me?"
I nodded. "Yes, we will. We'll stay with you."
A sweet smile spread across Lucas's face, and it gladdened my heart so much. This was what I had always wanted. Beautiful moments like this between us were all I wanted.
"Are you ready for this? Victor's not going to take this well, and there's going to be fallout. Lots of it," he said as we prepared to head back into the hall.
"I'm ready," I said, and meant it completely.
Walking back into that hall took every ounce of courage I possessed, but Lucas's hand in mine gave me strength.
The whispers started the moment we appeared, a susurrus of sound that followed our progress down the aisle.
I could feel the weight of every gaze. But I didn't care.
For the first time in years, I knew exactly where I belonged.
I could see Victor near the altar, his face a mask of barely controlled rage. I stopped in the center of the hall, looking at Victor, who had a cold look on his face. "I can't marry you, Victor. I don't love you. I love Lucas, and you've been lying to me."
The silence that followed was deafening, pregnant with shock and anticipation. Victor's composure finally shattered completely.
"You can't be serious! Alison, you're making the biggest mistake of your life! You'll regret this—you'll both regret this!"
"No," I said firmly, surprised by my own conviction, by how right this felt. "I'm correcting one."
Victor's face was a mask of defeat and barely contained fury. I saw him differently. He didn't look like my salvation anymore, not as my knight in shining armor, but as a man who was losing something he'd counted on having, something he'd worked for and planned for and expected to possess.
Then he snapped entirely. He lunged toward me, his face twisted with a fury that made him almost unrecognizable, his hands reaching for me like claws. "You stupid bitch! Do you have any idea what you've just thrown away? What have you cost me? Years of planning, years of work—"
Lucas moved faster than I'd ever seen anyone move, putting himself between Victor and me with the fluid grace of a predator protecting his mate. But Lucas's security team was faster, grabbing Victor's arms and pulling him back before he could reach us.
"Let me go!" Victor snarled, struggling against their grip with wild desperation. "She's nothing! Nothing but a gold-digging whore who doesn't know what's good for her—"
"That's enough." Lucas's voice was deadly quiet, but it cut through Victor's rant like a blade through silk. "You will not speak about her that way. Not now, not ever. Get him out of here. Now."
Victor was dragged away, still hurling insults and threats that grew more incoherent with each step. Lucas came over to me and held his hands in mine, looking at me with a fulfilling smile.
"We should head to the estate and get Leo," he said.
"Oh! He'll be so glad to see you. And will be so glad to live with you as well."
We walked out of the hall hand in hand, leaving the people with their stares and the whispers behind. I didn't care about them. All that mattered to me now was the life waiting for me. A life with Leo and Lucas.