Chapter 19
As Vance left, Silas set his coffee mug down on the patio table. His expression shifted, the playful banter fading into something deeply serious, though entirely devoid of the coldness that used to define him. He reached into his pocket.
"Before you go deal with blueprints and contractors," Silas said, his voice dropping slightly, "there's something we need to handle here."
Harper turned to him, confused by the sudden shift in tone. "Is everything okay? Did one of the bosses—"
"The bosses are terrified of me, Harper. Everything is fine," Silas interrupted, taking her hands in his. He took a deep breath, looking down at her with an ocean of love in his ice-blue eyes.
"A year ago, I was a dead man walking," Silas said softly. "I was buried under my own grief, living in a tomb, waiting for the end. You walked into this fortress with no money, no protection, and you stared down the darkness in this house without blinking. You didn't just save Bane, Harper. You saved my soul."
Harper’s breath hitched, tears immediately springing to her eyes. She squeezed his hands, unable to speak over the lump in her throat.
Silas slowly dropped to one knee on the sun-warmed slate. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, velvet box. He flipped it open, revealing a stunning, vintage diamond ring that caught the California sunlight and fractured it into a million prisms.
"I don't know how to be a good man," Silas whispered, looking up at her, his voice rough with emotion. "But I know how to be yours. I will protect you, I will cherish you, and I will spend the rest of my life trying to be the man you deserve. Marry me, Harper."
Bane, sensing the emotional weight of the moment, woke from his nap, trotted over, and sat heavily beside Silas, resting his massive head on Silas’s knee, looking up at Harper as if waiting for her answer.
A choked laugh broke through Harper’s tears. She looked at the terrifying former mafia boss kneeling before her, and the loyal, massive hound sitting beside him. They were her family. They were her home.
May you like
"Yes," Harper sobbed, falling to her knees in front of him, throwing her arms around his neck. "Yes, Silas. Yes."
Silas let out a breath he seemed to have been holding for a lifetime. He wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her neck, holding her so tightly she felt grounded to the very earth. Bane let out a loud, joyful bark, his tail thumping wildly against the floor, completing the circle.
