Chapter 24
After that day, Aurora never saw Sterling again.
Rumor had it he’d sold off his company and disappeared entirely. No one knew where he went-not even his closest
former associates.
Sometime later, Mr. and Mrs. Wyndham had tried to reach her. But Aurora didn’t respond, not with words.
Instead, she simply mailed back the severed parentage agreement they had once forced upon her.
She didn’t say anything else.
It would be a lie to say she wasn’t affected-but she had long since accepted that some people were incapable of love. And she had no intention of ever crossing paths with them again.
That chapter of her life had ended. A distant, sealed past.
A year passed.
Aurora finally opened a small design studio of her own-nothing grand, but it was hers.
She had a tight-knit team of like-minded partners. Work was exhausting, often more intense than her corporate days. But she was finally living her dream.
And that made everything worth it.
On the first day of the studio’s opening, she’d planned to celebrate with Lucien. She even walked down the hall to knock
on his door.
But no one answered.
She called him-once, twice, five times. Still no reply.
And then, just as she was about to try again, her phone lit up with a breaking news alert.
A black Pagani, suspected of speeding, was rear-ended and totaled. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
Aurora’s vision went white.
Lucien’s twenty-fifth birthday gift to himself had been a black Pagani.
She didn’t even finish reading the report. Her heart lurched violently as she ran outside and called a car. Her hands
trembled as she texted and redialed, over and over.
At every red light, she whispered the same silent prayer: Please, no. Let him be okay.
When she arrived, the scene had already been cordoned off by police tape.
She tried to push her way through, frantic. An officer blocked her path.
“That’s someone I know,” she said, voice cracking. “Please-I need to see-”
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“What’s your relationship to the victim?” he asked.
Aurora didn’t hesitate. “He’s… he’s my partner.”
The officer paused, gave her a strange look, then showed her the ID of the deceased.
The man in the photo was well into his sixties. A known drug dealer. The crash had been caused by a cardiac event, not the speeding alone.
Aurora’s knees gave out.
Relief slammed into her with such force that she sank to the pavement, unable to breathe.
Moments later, Lucien came rushing through the crowd.
Confused at first, he quickly spotted the crushed shell of a black Pagani behind the wreckage. His expression changed.
He rushed to her side and dropped to his knees.
“Shh, it’s okay-I’m here now.” His arms came around her, steady and strong. “I’ve got you.”
Aurora clutched his shirt with trembling hands. “Where were you?” she gasped, tears blurring her eyes. “I was looking everywhere for you-I thought you… I thought something happened!”
Lucien held her tighter. “I was setting up a surprise,” he murmured against her hair. “I was going to confess tonight.”
Aurora choked on a wet laugh. “At my office?”
He blinked. “How’d you know?”
“I have security cameras.”
Lucien winced. “Right… should’ve thought of that.”
She had seen everything hours ago-but said nothing. She hadn’t wanted to ruin the moment.
He pulled back slightly and reached into his pocket.
“I was just going to confess,” he said sheepishly, “but I figured, why not skip ahead?”
He opened a small box.
Inside was a simple, elegant ring.
Aurora stared. “That’s not a confession, Lucien. That’s a proposal.”
“Same difference,” he said with a grin. “I was going to do it eventually anyway.”
His tone was warm and steady, but his eyes shimmered with emotion.
Aurora’s throat tightened. She was laughing and crying all at once. “You’re crazy.”
“And you haven’t answered.”
“I’ll need time to think.”
“Take all the time you need,” he said softly.
Above them, the clouds had parted.
Sunlight poured through the canopy of trees, warm and golden, falling in scattered beams across his face and shoulders.
And in that moment, as Aurora looked at the man before her-she felt it.
That missing part of her-the one that had been broken, buried, lost-
It was finally beginning to bloom again.
Lucien was no longer just a quiet companion or a reliable friend.
He was, unmistakably, the light she’d waited for.
The one that made everything make sense again.
