Chapter 36
Present
Upper-East Side, New York City
I WOKE TO PALE BLUE light and the soft rustle of curtains breathing with the morning breeze, before the door slid closed.
The bed beside me was empty – still warm, the pillow lightly indented where his head had been.
It didn’t surprise or scare me. Matteo was always gone when the sky was still bruised with dawn, like he belonged to the sunrise more than the night.
Usually, I’d stay curled under the sheets, drifting back to sleep until he returned and pulled me back into him like I was his favorite thing to wake up to.
But today something tugged at me. Last night changed something.
I felt different knowing how deeply he truly felt for me. Almost like it was safer for me to allow myself to openly express my feeling for him.
I pushed the blanket away and sat up, platinum hair falling over my shoulder. The room was shadowed and silver, quiet enough that I could hear the distant traffic. My eyes drifted toward the terrace.
Matteo stood with both hands resting on the balcony railing, broad shoulders outlined by the soft, rising light.
His back was to me – bare, strong lines disappearing into the low hang of gray sweatpants.
The horizon was a watercolor wash of lavender and gold, just beginning to bleed warmth into the sky.
I sat there for a moment, at the edge of our bed, watching him. Admiring him. Maybe worshiping him a little.
God, he was beautiful.
Not just in the obvious way – though that certainly didn’t hurt – but in the way he was. In the way he’d been through so much, yet remained kind and loving. In the way he radiated warmth like the sun himself.
Like he could just be.
And I loved him for that softness he rarely showed anyone else.
I pressed my knees to my chest and rested my chin on them, heart quietly full. It was ridiculous, really – how every time I looked at him, I fell a little harder. How a marriage that started for business, for convenience, for strategy, somehow became the most real, solid thing in my life.
I thought back to how it was his idea all along.
How I agreed because it made sense – alliances, opportunities, protection.
At least, that’s what I told myself. But maybe he knew something I didn’t.
From that first night we met, the way his eyes lingered a little too long, the way his voice softened when he said my name…
Maybe he knew we were always going to end up right here.
In love.
And even if it was unbalanced at first – even if I walked into it thinking it was a business decision – I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t regret a single step that led me to him. To us.
Because I did love him. Deeply. Stupidly. Passionately.
I loved him enough that all the strange beginnings, all the secrets, all the risks… Were worth it.
And watching him in the soft glow of dawn, I realized he must have known that from the start.
The sky softened into pinks and pale honey as the minutes passed, shadows dissolving from the corners of the room.
Eventually, I stood, slow and careful, slipping my arms into my silk robe and tying the sash around my waist. The air was cool when I cracked open the terrace doors, coastal wind brushing goosebumps up my legs.
I stepped outside.
My breath punched out of me in a quiet, sharp breath.
The sunrise crept over Matteo’s right side – warm light catching on his profile, gilding his skin in gold. His back, once hidden in the dim, now stood exposed in full morning clarity.
Scars.
Slashes like faded lightning strikes, crossing over muscle. Old wounds, brutal and patient. I had touched every inch of him, kissed him a thousand times, and somehow never saw this – because he never let me. Because he guarded it, guarded himself, in ways I hadn’t realized.
My eyes stung immediately. Shame burned in my throat.
Everytime he dimmed the lights. All the times he kept his shirt on until the last second. The way he always faced me, chest to chest, mouth to mouth – never turning his back. Not once.
He didn’t want me to see. Or maybe, he wasn’t ready for me to.
Matteo shifted. Slowly, like he could feel me there without hearing me. He turned only his head at first, looking back over his shoulder, dark eyes meeting mine – a silent, understanding gaze that held years of things unspoken.
He didn’t move to cover himself. Didn’t reach for a shirt. Didn’t turn away.
He let me see him. All of him.
This time, he didn’t hide it. He let me see all of him – raw, unguarded, scarred. And I wondered how many mornings he stood alone, waiting for me find him. To understand him.
Pain lanced through my chest so sharp I had to grip the doorframe.
How long had he carried this alone?
My eyes filled, warm tears threatening to spill as the dawn wrapped around us like something holy, fragile.
Matteo held my gaze, unflinching. And in that stillness, in the quiet hush of early light and wind and heartbreak, I felt something shift inside me – deeper love, heavier devotion, something I could never unfeel.
I stepped closer. The wind lifted the hem of my robe, brushing it around my legs, but all I saw was him. The man I loved pulling me towards him like a magnet. Beautiful and tragic and impossibly strong.
My fingertips touched his skin, feather–light.
He shivered – just barely – but I felt it.
Goosebumps rose under my palm like my touch startled something tender in him.
For a moment, I said nothing. Just leaned forward, resting my forehead gently between his shoulder blades. His warmth soaked into me.
Then I pressed a soft kiss to one of the scars. His muscles tightened under my lips – a pull, a flinch like he wasn’t used to anyone touching that pain. I pulled back enough to look at him, voice trembling.
“H – How?” My throat closed around the question.
Matteo didn’t turn fully. “I took too long to get to the hospital.”
The story flashed in my mind. I bit the inside of my cheek hard, refusing to break, because I didn’t want to add weight to his.
Matteo looked away, into the sun, jaw clenched.
“Does it… Bother you?”
My chest squeezed.
“Matteo, my love,” I whispered, shaking my head. “Scars from protecting the people you love? How could I ever see them as anything but proof of who you are? They don’t make me pull away. They could never make me feel anything but,” my breath hitched, “Admiration. And love.”
His brow pulled tight, a deep furrow forming. Like he didn’t know what to do with that kind of acceptance.
I stepped closer, cupped his face firmly in both hands, forcing his eyes to mine. Tears finally spilled over, warm streaks down my cheeks.
“I love you,” I said, voice breaking. “All of you. Always.”
His jaw tensed beneath my palms.
I pulled him into me, hugging him with everything I had. His arms wrapped around my waist almost instantly, strong and desperate, as if he’d been waiting years for that permission. He buried his face into my neck, breath hot against my skin.
“I love you,” he murmured, voice low, vulnerable, real. “So much, mi vida.”
We stood there in the sunrise and I knew now that I’d gotten to know Matteo, I never wanted to know anyone else like this again.
I pressed one more kiss to his back – right over a pale scar, soft as breath. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and I reached for his neck. Our mouths met – slow, warm, unhurried. A kiss that felt like home.
He pulled me closer still, then in front of him so he stood behind me, his chest firm against my back.
His arms wrapped around my waist, locking me in like I belonged there.
I leaned into him, fingers tracing his forearms, feeling his heartbeat through his skin.
Together, we watched the horizon swell with gold and pink, light spilling over the city in soft waves.
We stayed like that for a long time. No talking. No rush. Just the quiet hum of the morning and our breathing synced like a single rhythm. The sky kept opening, colors shifting like watercolor. Peaceful. Simple. Perfect.
“This might be the most gorgeous sunrise yet,” I whispered. “Even better than Hawaii.”
He hummed, pressing a kiss to my temple. “What do you say to a thousand more?”
I looked up at him, a small smile forming. “What?”
His voice dropped low, warm against my ear. “Will you be with me for the rest of our sunrises?”
I looked down to where our hands rested around my waist… And froze.
A diamond ring.
The one I tried on and secretly fell in love with before the wedding – soft, oval-cut, glowing like morning light.
I hadn’t bought it. Felt too personal. Too vulnerable. Illogical if we were going to divorce in a year.
Instead, I kept it in my heart, saved for when I would fall in love.
My whole body went still, heart pounding like it wanted out of my chest. I stared at the ring, at his hands holding me, at the sunrise blooming in front of us.
I was completely in love with him.
He let go of my waist and stepped back, just enough for the morning glow to spill over him. Then my heart dropped when he lowered to one knee.
The sunrise kissed his face like it wanted to claim him first, turning his hair molten gold and setting light in his amber eyes, the way I always loved. Soft, warm, devastating.
“You drive me crazy,” he began.
A soft laugh escaped me and he smiled wider. My right hand flew to my mouth, trying and failing to keep it together as he held tight onto my left hand.
His thumb stroked slowly across my skin, grounding me even as everything inside me floated.
“You make me feel things I thought didn’t exist. You showed me heaven isn’t a place, it’s a person.
” His eyes softened, but he didn’t look away.
“And you’re the only one I’ve ever wanted to do this with.
It’s only ever been you for me. It’s always been us, baby.
” He took a breath, deep and certain. “Francesca Vittoria DeMone, will you do me the honor of marrying me? For real this time.”
I nodded before words even came. Tears ran hot down my cheeks, my chest aching with joy that felt too big for my ribs.
“Yes?” he asked softly.
“Yes,” My whisper grew into a breathless laugh. “A thousand times yes!”
I slid off the old engagement ring and tucked it into my robe pocket like a memory.
Matteo picked up the new ring with careful joy and slipped it onto my finger.
It fit like it was made for me.
Like we were made for each other.
He rose, and I met him halfway, arms around his neck as his mouth found mine.
The kiss was slow, but full – like we were sealing something sacred.
When we finally pulled apart, I cradled his face in both hands, fingers brushing the soft skin under his eyes.
His eyes shone back at me, full of stars and heart and future.
I could see the love there.
I could feel it in mine.
“To a million more kisses from you,” he murmured.
I laughed and kissed him harder.
And with the sunrise painting our world gold, I knew we meant every word.
And ever since that morning, Matteo began to fall asleep before me.
He no longer waited for me to drift off first, like he always did – as if making sure I wouldn’t sneak off again in the middle of the night.
Instead, he allowed himself to be vulnerable.
With me in his arms.
I’d never felt safer.