Chapter 10 - Rebuilding the Foundation
I looked up at him, my breath catching in my throat. "Luca..."
"I know I don't get to just ask for a second chance," Luca continued, his voice trembling with rare, unvarnished vulnerability. "I know I hurt you in ways that simple apologies can't fix. I let people poison my mind. I let my ego and my fear ruin the best thing that ever happened to me."
He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, worn wooden box.
He opened it. Inside sat a simple, unadorned gold ring—not the massive diamond engagement ring he had bought me when Moretti Global blew up, but the simple gold band we had bought together at a small antique shop when we were twenty-four and broke.
"I kept it," Luca murmured, staring down at the ring. "Every single day since you left, it stayed in my desk drawer. I used to look at it when the penthouse got too quiet."
Tears welling in my eyes, I looked from the ring up to his face. "Why are you showing me this now?"
"Because I want to start over," Luca said softly, dropping to one knee on the stone terrace, looking up at me with absolute devotion. "Not as the CEO of Moretti Global. Not as the billionaire who demands things from the world. Just as Luca. The man who loved you in a tiny one-bedroom apartment before the skyscrapers and the money."
He held the box up toward me.
"I don't expect you to wear it today, Nia," he whispered. "I don't expect you to forgive me overnight. But give me a chance to court you again. Give me a chance to prove that I can be the husband you deserved five years ago, and the father Leo and Maya need today."
I looked down at the man kneeling before me.
Six years ago, I had walked away from him in tears, convinced that my worth as a woman was tied to his corporate expectations. But over the last few weeks, I had seen him tear down his own empire, fight off media mobs, and drop to his knees to play with wooden trains just to earn a smile from our children.
He was no longer the ruthless titan who saw life through balance sheets. He was a man who had been broken, humbled, and rebuilt by love.
I reached down, taking the small gold ring from the box, holding it in my palm.
"I won't put it on my finger yet, Luca," I said softly, a warm, genuine smile breaking through my tears. "But you can take me out on a proper first date this Friday."
Luca let out a loud, breathless laugh, standing up instantly, wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me close against his chest. He didn't kiss my lips—he respected my boundaries—but he pressed a deep, lingering kiss against my forehead, holding me as if he would never let go.
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"Friday at seven," Luca whispered into my hair, his voice filled with overwhelming gratitude. "I won't be a minute late."
Down the hallway, inside the quiet, peaceful warmth of the Lake Forest estate, our children slept safely under the roof their father had built to protect them. And for the first time in six years, as I looked out over the horizon, I knew that our story was no longer about the heartbreak of the past—it was about the beautiful, unshakeable home we were building for the future.
