Chapter 8 - The Wedding Nobody Expected
One year later, Luca proposed.
Not at a gala.
Not in a mansion.
At the restaurant where Sophia had first agreed to pretend to be his girlfriend.
He brought her to table 17.
The same table.
Different life.
He placed a small box in front of her.
She stared.
"Are you serious?"
"Very."
"You hate diamonds."
"I learned."
She opened it.
A simple ring.
No enormous stone.
No performance.
Just elegance.
He knelt.
"Sophia Bennett, you came into my life pretending to be nothing more than my secretary."
She laughed.
"You were the one pretending I was your girlfriend."
"True."
He smiled.
"Then you became the woman I trusted."
He took her hand.
"Then the woman I loved."
Her eyes filled.
"And now?"
He looked at her.
"I want you to be my wife."
She whispered,
"Yes."
He stood.
She hugged him.
Across the restaurant, Lily — Ethan's niece and the youngest person on the guest list — screamed.
"She said yes!"
Everyone laughed.
Ethan stood.
"I knew she would."
Sophia smiled.
"You two planned this."
"Of course."
Luca looked offended.
"Everyone knew except me."
"That's because you're terrible at surprises."
The wedding was intimate.
Sophia wore ivory.
Luca wore black.
When she walked toward him, he looked like a man seeing something impossible.
She reached him.
"Still think this is harmless?"
"No."
"What is it?"
He smiled.
"The most dangerous thing I've ever done."
She laughed.
May you like
"Marrying me?"
"Falling in love with you."
