Chapter 20 - Forever Under His ProtectionOn a warm autumn evening in October, exactly ten years to the day after Elias lifted me into his armored SUV, we stood together on the stone balcony of our Manhattan penthouse overlooking the glittering expanse of the city skyline.
Down below, the traffic flowed like rivers of red and white light through the concrete canyons of Manhattan. The wind was crisp, carrying the unmistakable scent of approaching winter, but I didn't feel the cold.
I wore the antique diamond ring Elias had given me in Central Park, its stones catching the amber glow of the city lights.
Inside, Chloe and Claire were laughing, playing a piano duet that echoed softly through the vaulted ceilings of the penthouse.
Elias stood behind me, his arms wrapped securely around my waist, his chin resting comfortably on my shoulder.
“Do you ever think back to that night?” I asked softly, breaking the quiet of the evening. “Beneath the overpass?”
Elias tightened his grip around me, pulling me just an inch closer, as if he could still shield me from the ghosts of the past.
“Every single day, Ava,” he whispered, his voice thick with a fierce, quiet devotion. “That was the night I found my life. That was the night I stopped existing in the dark.”
He turned me gently in his arms so I was facing him directly. His dark eyes, flecked with silver, burned with the same unwavering intensity that had commanded an empire and defied an underworld.
“You survived the snow, Ava,” Elias said, pressing a tender, lingering kiss to my forehead. “And you taught me what it means to truly live.”
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I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck, looking up into the eyes of the man who had risked everything to become my shield, my anchor, and my forever.
“Always,” I whispered against his lips. “Under your protection, until the end of time.”
