Chapter 21
Vivian
There were no more kidnappings. No more blackmail or threats.
The only thing that mattered now was the rhythm of our life together: kids, friends, dinners that lasted until midnight, Sunday mornings spent in bed, warm and tangled and safe.
The Bellandi family grew. Our cousins and their children visited every summer. The house always had an extra plate at the table, a guestroom made up, a spare umbrella by the door.
Sometimes I looked at Alejandro, at the man who’d once been a mystery and was now the anchor of my entire world, and I wondered how I’d ever lived without him.
Maybe you have to lose everything before you know what you really want.
Or maybe you just have to choose it, every single day.
There were still storms sometimes, but they never scared me anymore.
We faced them together.
And that was the truest thing I’d ever known.