Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Richard
The day Natalie got discharged, the weather was impossibly perfect.
She wore the pale yellow cashmere dress I'd had a designer send over, carefully cradling our son Leonardo in her arms—finally cleared to come home, wrapped snug in his soft blanket.
Natalie had picked the name. Said it sounded "like a brave little knight.
" I didn't care either way. If she liked it, that was enough.
Just as we headed toward the waiting stretch limo, my phone buzzed in my pocket. David.
"Sir, Olivia and all four kidnappers directly involved in both attacks—hired by her—were apprehended this morning on a private island in the Philippines.
Joint operation between local police and Interpol.
The evidence we provided is airtight. Extradition proceedings are already underway.
Also, the Carter family's last core assets were officially seized by the banks this morning.
Key family members are facing multiple investigations for commercial fraud and aiding a fugitive.
They're barred from leaving the country. "
Which meant Olivia and her family were finished. No coming back from this.
I gripped the phone, my gaze falling on Natalie as she bent to kiss our son's forehead, a tender smile curving her lips.
Sunlight danced on her lashes. The scene was almost too beautiful to be real.
The news coming through the phone felt like the last dark cloud being ripped away by the wind, revealing endless blue sky behind it.
"Got it," I said curtly. "Stay on top of the legal proceedings. I want maximum sentences. All of them."
I hung up and walked to the car, opening the door for Natalie. She settled in with the baby, then looked up at me. "Who was that? Everything okay?"
"David. Just tying up some loose ends." I wasn't about to mention Olivia. That name had caused enough misunderstandings between us. I slid in beside Natalie and shut the door.
The car pulled smoothly away, heading for Blackwood Manor.
"It's done," I added, taking her hand where it rested on her knee. "We're going home."
Natalie studied me, as if reading something in my too-even tone and the sharpness not quite gone from my eyes. But she didn't press. Just squeezed my hand back, nodded gently, and leaned her head against my uninjured shoulder, closing her eyes. "It's good to be going home, Richard."
The Golden Voice Awards ceremony crept closer day by day.
Natalie's body recovered quickly under careful care.
She wasn't quite back to pre-pregnancy form yet, but color had returned to her cheeks, and that familiar bright spark reignited in her eyes.
She split her time between the nursery and the home office, cramming parenting knowledge while working remotely with Emma and the music team on her comeback single and.
.. her acceptance speech for the awards.
She really wouldn't let me help write the speech. Even though she'd said I'd be her first audience, Natalie wouldn't even show me her draft. Every time I asked, she'd say, "Richard, turns out I have a gift for writing acceptance speeches. God, you're going to be blown away."
Me, blown away? No. Natalie was going to be blown away.
Because I planned to propose to her that night.
I owed Natalie a proposal. As for the ring, I'd had it ready for a while.
Actually, the night I signed the divorce papers, I'd had rare insomnia.
On impulse, I'd contacted the head of jewelry at Sotheby's to commission a ring.
A twelve-carat D-flawless pear-shaped diamond, set in a minimalist platinum band.
Inside the band, our names were engraved.
Now Leonardo's birthdate had been added too.
The awards ceremony was undoubtedly the perfect stage for a proposal.
First, I contacted Hamilton, the chairman of the awards organization—an old guy who owed me big.
"Hamilton, I need to add three minutes to one of your ceremony segments... No, not a commercial. I'm proposing... Of course to Natalie, who else? My assistant will coordinate details with your people. Make it flawless. And remember—Natalie cannot know about this."
I even had David run simulations of every possible mishap.
Power outage? Backup generators and emergency lighting ready.
What if Natalie hesitated too long? Background music had preset gentle melodies to smooth over any silence.
But what if she refused on the spot? I forced that possibility out of my head, though my heart still clenched at the thought.
I revised the proposal speech at least twenty times. Practiced in my study, talking to thin air. Tried adjusting my expression in the bathroom mirror. Once I even murmured it to baby Leonardo asleep in his crib—woke him up. He let out a wail that had me fumbling in panic.
"You'll help me out, right, little man?" I awkwardly patted him with my good hand, whispering, "Put in a good word with your mom."
Leonardo blew a milk bubble, his dark eyes watching me. Then he yawned and fell back asleep.
"Never mind. You can't even talk yet. This is asking too much."
The night before the ceremony, I barely slept.
I'd never been this way, not even facing billion-dollar deals.
It wasn't nerves—at least, that's what I told myself.
I just kept rechecking the plan, confirming everyone's role, imagining every detail that might unfold tomorrow.
I pulled out the velvet ring box and opened it.
The diamond refracted cold, brilliant light.
I stared at it, Natalie's face floating through my mind.
Her laugh. Her eyes going wide when she was angry.
Her fragility when she cried. How she glowed onstage.
And... the expression she might have when she said yes.
Would she be surprised? Or think I was being my usual domineering self, pressuring her in public? Would she like the big spectacle? Or prefer something private, just the two of us?
Damn it. I snapped the box shut and raked my hair in frustration.
Richard, look at you now. Anxious as a kid on his first date.
But deep down, I felt certain. After everything Natalie and I had been through—facing death together—I knew she had feelings for me. So this proposal couldn't fail... right? She couldn't possibly say no. If she rejected me... God, that would be the joke of the century.
The next day, the Los Angeles Music Center blazed with lights. At the ceremony, I sat front row in the VIP section, surrounded by entertainment and business titans. But my gaze never left one person.
Natalie looked heart-stoppingly beautiful tonight. A custom flame-red one-shoulder gown made her look like a red rose blooming in the darkness.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this next award represents the highest tribute to an artist's lifelong creativity, enduring influence, and indelible contribution to music.
Tonight, we are honored to present the Golden Voice Award Lifetime Achievement Award to a woman who has defined and illuminated this era with her voice, her resilience, her soul—Natalie Green! "
Applause erupted like a tsunami, nearly lifting the roof off the hall. I stood with everyone else, my eyes locked on her. Natalie gathered her skirt and walked toward the center stage in her red-soled heels, step by step. Spotlights followed her, wrapping her in a sacred halo. She was radiant.
She accepted the heavy golden gramophone trophy from the presenter and turned to face the audience.
"This feels... so surreal." Her voice through the microphone was raw with emotion. She adjusted her grip on the trophy, scanning the crowd below.
"First, I have to thank music. The thing that let me—at fourteen, with a beat-up guitar and terrible lyrics scribbled on the back of homework—escape a lousy reality. It's not just my career. It's my lifeboat. My way of making sense of this crazy world."
Natalie's speech was concise. She thanked the fans who'd grown with her, thanked Emma and the team. Then she paused, her gaze seeming to pierce through the dazzling lights and land on me. "...Finally, I want to thank the man I love."
Her lips curved up, though her eyes glistened with tears.
"Thank you for protecting me and our baby in your way, even when that way was really.
.. exasperating sometimes." Kind laughter rippled through the crowd.
Her gaze was tender and steady. "Thank you for being willing to learn, to change, to give me space, and also give me a home.
This award belongs to you, too. And to our little angel who just came into this world and gave us infinite courage—Leonardo. "
Applause surged again like a tide. Many eyes darted between Natalie and me. My heart pounded hard and fast, a scorching warmth pumping from my heart through my limbs, making my nose sting. This was it.
I took a deep breath. In the perfect gap as the applause faded and the host prepared to speak, I rose from my seat. A spotlight instinctively split from Natalie, locking onto me. The entire hall went silent. Everyone stared in surprise, wondering what I was doing.
I straightened my jacket and walked up the stage steps. My gaze stayed fixed on Natalie. She stood center stage, holding the golden trophy, watching me approach off-script, her face full of confusion.
I stopped in front of her and reached into my jacket, pulling out a small, deep-blue velvet ring box. Gasps and sharp intakes of breath came from below.
"Oh my God..."
Someone in the audience let out a stifled cry, followed by more gasps.
I dropped to one knee, looking up at Natalie, and opened the box. The pear-shaped diamond blazed under the stage lights with fire that nearly burned the eyes.
The hall fell dead silent. Even breathing seemed to vanish. Only my heartbeat thundered in my ears.
"Natalie Green," I spoke, my voice carrying through the winner's microphone in her hand—a bit hoarse but clear enough.
I tried to keep my tone steady, though I could feel my fingertips trembling slightly.
"Actually, I'm the one who should be grateful.
Thank you for not giving up on this bastard.
Thank you for giving me a chance to learn how to love you right. "
I paused, tracing her lips parted in shock and her eyes rapidly filling with tears. I pushed the ring box forward. "So, Natalie, will you marry me again? In sickness and health, for better or worse, till death do us part. Will you?"
Time froze. I could hear my blood flowing, hear countless gazes focusing from below.
Natalie stood motionless, just looking at me, tears finally breaking free and sliding down her cheeks, sparkling under the spotlights.
A few seconds of silence felt like a century.
Just as my heart was about to leap out of my throat, Natalie suddenly smiled through her tears and nodded hard, choking out, "Yes!
Richard, you bastard who's always scaring me. .. yes!"
The weight crushing my chest crashed to the ground. I exhaled in relief, barely realizing I was grinning too. With my good hand, I took out the ring and carefully, reverently, slipped it onto her left ring finger.
Perfect fit.
Then I stood, and before she could react, I cupped the back of her head and kissed her deeply—tomorrow's headlines were guaranteed.
Natalie's and my story was beginning again on this brilliant night, in the most spectacular way possible.