Chapter 16 - The Midnight Vows
Instead of a high-society spectacle filled with politicians, fake friends, and corporate rivals, their wedding took place precisely at midnight in the private courtyard of the Orsini estate.
There were only three guests: Mrs. Ros Keller, whose silver hair was neatly pinned back as she dabbed happy tears from her eyes with a lace handkerchief; Gideon Marsh, standing tall in a sharp tuxedo holding the velvet ring box; and the quiet spirit of a little boy looking down from the stars.
Josephine wore a gown of liquid ivory silk, elegant and unpretentious, moving with absolute grace beneath the moonlight.
As the judge pronounced them husband and wife, Raphael leaned down and kissed her—not with the desperate urgency of men at war, but with the deep, enduring certainty of two survivors who had conquered the dark and earned the dawn.
When the grandfather clock inside the manor chimed twelve times, signaling the arrival of a brand-new day, Raphael pulled her close against his chest.
“12:43,” he whispered into her hair, a gentle smile touching his lips.
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“We missed it by two minutes,” she teased softly, resting her head against his shoulder.
“Good,” Raphael replied, tightening his arms around her. “We don’t live in the past anymore.”
