Chapter 114 Two Years #3
"You threw yourself in front of both of us first," Clara countered softly.
Dominic's grip on her hand tightened with surprising strength. "I couldn't let him hurt her," he whispered. "If anything had happened to her... if I had lost her..."
"I know," Clara murmured, leaning closer. "I know."
They fell into a long, heavy silence, just holding onto each other. They were both alive. They were both here. The nightmare was finally behind them.
Finally, Dominic cleared his raspy throat, his dark eyes locking onto hers with absolute, unyielding intensity. "Clara... there's something I need to ask you."
"What is it?"
He took a slow, deliberate breath - wincing slightly at the pain in his chest, but keeping his gaze steady. "Marry me."
Clara's heart skipped a violent beat. "What?"
"Marry me," Dominic repeated, his voice growing stronger, filled with an undeniable certainty.
"I know this isn't romantic. I know I'm stuck in an ICU bed and I look like hell. But I died on that warehouse floor, Clara. And while I was bleeding out, the only coherent thought I had was that I never told you how I truly feel."
"Dominic - "
"I love you," he stated, cutting off her protest.
"I’ve loved you since the exact moment you walked into that corporate board meeting and called Warren Johnson out in front of the entire room. I love your courage. I love your intelligence. I love the fierce, protective lioness you become for the people you care about.
I love the way Jasmine’s entire face lights up the second you walk into a room. I love everything about you."
He stopped, a sharp wince crossing his features as he touched his bandaged chest, before looking back up at her.
"I love you, Clara. And I refuse to waste another single day pretending I don't. Marry me. Not down the road. Not when things quiet down. Now."
Clara felt the tears spilling over her cheeks again, but this time, the heavy weight in her chest was entirely gone. "I love you too," she confessed, her voice thick with emotion. "I realized it the moment I thought I was going to lose you. I love you, Dominic. But..."
Dominic's expression instantly shuttered, his walls slamming back up. "But?"
"But we have to be smart about this," Clara explained quickly, desperate to erase the guarded look from his face.
"Warren Johnson is gone, but Hale's network is massive. Reid is talking to the feds, but there are still dangerous people out there. People who might still want me silenced. People who could try to use Jasmine to get to me."
She took a steadying breath, her strategic mind clicking into place.
"If we get married right now, it legally and financially protects all of us," Clara reasoned.
"It gives you the immediate power of attorney to make medical and legal decisions for me if I'm compromised. It gives me the legal standing to protect and shield Jasmine if something happens to you. It makes us an absolute, untouchable united front against whatever is left of Hale's empire."
Dominic watched her intensely, weighing her words. "You're proposing a marriage of convenience."
"I'm proposing a formal marriage contract," Clara clarified. "Two years. Long enough to let the feds completely dismantle the rest of Hale's people. Long enough to guarantee Jasmine's permanent safety. Long enough to..."
"To see if what we feel is real?" Dominic finished for her.
Clara offered a small, vulnerable nod. "Yes."
"It's entirely real for me," Dominic said, his tone dropping to a deep, resonant register.
"But I understand. You need time. You need to know this isn't just a byproduct of adrenaline, fear, and gratitude."
He squeezed her hand tightly. "Two years. A strict contract. Specific legal and financial terms to protect our families."
"Two years," Clara agreed.
Dominic’s lips curved into a weak, but genuinely beautiful smile. "And what happens at the end of those two years, Clara?"
"We decide," she said softly. "We decide if we want to stay together, or if we want to walk away. No hard feelings. No regrets."
"I'm not going to want to walk away," Dominic murmured, his dark eyes burning into hers.
"You don't know that for sure," Clara countered, a small smile finally breaking through her tears.
"Yes, I do," Dominic said. "Because I've already spent the last month trying to convince myself I could live a life without you in it. I can't, Clara. I won't."
Careful of his heavily bandaged chest and the throbbing ache in her own side, Clara leaned across the mattress and pressed her lips to his. It was a soft, lingering kiss - a sacred vow sealed in the quiet of the ICU.
"Two years," she whispered against his lips.
"Two years," Dominic agreed.
And in that quiet room, neither of them mentioned the obvious truth. They didn't say out loud that two years was an incredibly long time.
Long enough for a cold corporate contract to dissolve into absolute passion. Long enough to fall so deeply, irrevocably in love that walking away would become completely impossible.
Long enough to become beautifully, permanently entangled.