Chapter Twelve #2
He wasn't just a billionaire who had fallen in love with a junior designer. He was a man who had crawled back through the fabric of time to rescue his soul.
"Aura, please, talk to me," Cameron begged, his hands trembling as he gently wiped the tears pouring down her cheeks. "Should I call the doctor? What hurts?"
"Nothing," Aurelia choked out, a fresh wave of tears spilling over his thumbs.
She reached up, her trembling hands framing his face.
She traced the strong line of his jaw, the slight furrow between his brows, touching him as if checking to ensure he was real.
"Nothing hurts, Cameron. You didn't hurt me. "
Cameron froze, the specific phrasing of her words sending a cold, spike of adrenaline straight to his heart. He stared into her dark eyes, searching the depths of them, and saw an ancient recognition that hadn't been there an hour ago.
"What did you see?" Cameron whispered, the color draining from his face.
"I saw you," Aurelia sobbed, pulling him forward until his forehead rested against hers. "I saw the house. I saw the sketchbooks on your desk. Cameron... you were so alone. You were so incredibly, alone."
The breath left Cameron’s lungs in a violent rush.
A ragged, shattered sound escaped his throat.
He buried his face in the crook of her neck, his broad shoulders shaking uncontrollably as the worst fear of his existence was realized.
She knew. The universe had failed to shield her from the nightmare he had caused.
"I am so sorry," Cameron wept, his massive frame trembling against her, his voice a broken litany of pure, unadulterated remorse.
"I didn't want you to know. I wanted to protect you from those memories.
I was a monster, Aura. I was blind and arrogant, and I let them destroy you.
I let my mother and my sister tear you apart while I locked myself in my office.
I lost you, and it was my fault. Please, God, please don't pull away from me. "
He was clinging to her, terrified that the revelation of his past sins would finally, rightfully, cause her to shatter the beautiful sanctuary they had built.
But Aurelia didn't pull away.
She tightened her arms around his neck, pulling his frame closer against her chest, pressing her lips to the crown of his dark hair. The sadness she felt wasn't for the pain she had suffered in a timeline she barely remembered; it was for the agonizing penance the man in her arms had endured.
"You were a foolish man," Aurelia whispered, her tears soaking into the collar of his shirt. "You didn't know how to express love. You didn't know how to protect what mattered. But Cameron, look at me."
She gently forced him to lift his head. She looked into his devastated, red-rimmed gray eyes, her own shining with a fierce clarity.
"That man is gone," Aurelia declared, her voice trembling but ringing with undeniable truth.
"The man who hurt me doesn't exist in this timeline.
The man I know—the man who carries me to the elevator, who rubs my feet, who guards my sleep—he is the only Cameron I have ever known.
You paid for your foolishness, my love. You paid for it with a lifetime of loneliness.
I am so happy you aren't that man anymore. "
Cameron stared at her, the sheer, staggering magnitude of her forgiveness bringing him to his knees. She wasn't running. She wasn't looking at him with the hollow broken fear he deserved. She was looking at him with the very thing he had spent two lifetimes begging for.
Love.
"I don't deserve you," Cameron choked out, reaching into the inner pocket of his suit jacket. His hands were shaking so violently he could barely manage the small, velvet box he had carried against his heart every single day since she had moved into the penthouse.
He flipped the lid open. Inside rested a flawless, radiant-cut diamond, set simply and elegantly on a band of pure platinum. It was a ring devoid of ostentatious billionaire flash; it was designed for a woman who valued quiet strength over spectacle.
Cameron shifted his weight on the rug, remaining firmly on his knees before the chaise lounge.
"I promised myself I would wait until you felt safe," Cameron said, his voice raw, heavily laced with the tears he could no longer hold back.
"But I cannot spend another second of my existence without you knowing that you are the center of my universe.
Two lifetimes, Aurelia. No matter how the universe fractures, no matter how many times the timeline resets, I will always find my way back to you.
I will spend every breath I have left proving that I am worthy of the grace you have given me. "
He took a shaky breath, his gray eyes locking onto hers with a desperate, eternal vow.
"Marry me," Cameron asked, the words a breathless prayer. "Let me spend the rest of my life making you happy."
Aurelia looked at the ring, then at the magnificent, broken, devoted man kneeling before her.
The cosmic pull that had dragged them together on the sixteenth floor finally made perfect sense.
It wasn't just a chemical reaction; it was the inevitable collision of two souls that refused to be separated by death or time.
"Yes," Aurelia cried, a brilliant, watery smile breaking across her face. She reached out, offering her left hand. "Yes, Cameron. I love you."
Cameron let out a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob.
He slid the platinum band onto her trembling finger, the fit absolutely perfect.
Before she could even admire it, he surged upward, carefully avoiding the swell of her stomach as he pulled her into a fierce, desperate, bruising kiss, sealing a vow that transcended the very fabric of time.
***
Several days later, the atmosphere in the penthouse lounge was thick with the scent of fresh pastries and Earl Grey tea.
Aurelia sat by the window, the winter sun catching the brilliant flash of the diamond on her left hand. Harper sat across from her, a real estate portfolio open on her lap, but her eyes were narrowed suspiciously at the ring.
Cameron had left for a board meeting half an hour ago, finally leaving the two women alone.
"So," Harper began cautiously, her pen tapping a nervous rhythm against the portfolio. "He finally wore you down. I assume I need to start organizing a security perimeter for a wedding?"
Aurelia set her teacup down, her serene expression shifting into something deeply serious. She looked at her best friend, the fierce, unyielding guardian who had carried the agonizing weight of the future on her own shoulders for months.
"I had a dream, Harps," Aurelia said quietly.
Harper stopped tapping the pen. Her spine went rigid. "A dream about what?"
"About the house," Aurelia continued, her voice gentle, holding Harper’s terrified gaze. "About the cold. About a man who lost his wife in a car crash and spent the rest of his natural life drowning in the ruins of his own regret."
The color drained from Harper’s face. The portfolio slipped from her lap, landing on the carpet with a thud.
She stared at Aurelia, a raw, primal panic rising in her chest. She had fought so violently to keep this exact trauma away from her friend.
She had lied, threatened, and built walls of iron to ensure Aurelia never had to carry the memories of the pain she had suffered.
"Aura, I... I tried to keep it from you," Harper stammered, her voice cracking, tears instantly welling in her sharp eyes. "I didn't want you to remember what they did to you. I didn't want you to look at him and remember the cage."
Aurelia stood up slowly, crossing the space between them. She knelt on the floor in front of Harper’s chair, taking both of the younger girl’s trembling hands in her own.
"I know you did," Aurelia whispered, pulling Harper forward until they were resting their foreheads together. "I finally understand why you were so terrified. I understand the hyper-vigilance. You were carrying the trauma for both of us, Harper. You were fighting a war I couldn't even see."
"He was a monster to you," Harper sobbed, the iron walls finally collapsing as she wept into her best friend’s shoulder. "They all were. I was so scared they were going to do it again."