The CEO's Rejected Wife And Secret Heir novel Chapter 141

Chapter 141: Chapter 141: Spoiling his lady

Aria pov 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"That I’ve been waiting." He took both my hands. "Waiting for the perfect moment. Waiting for everything to be settled. Waiting for—I don’t know. Permission to be happy. But Aria, life doesn’t wait. Marcus proved that. Vivian proved that. Any day could be our last, and I don’t want to waste another second not being completely honest about what I want."

My heart was racing. "Damien"

"Let me finish." He smiled nervously. "We’re engaged. Technically. Have been for a while now because but Aria, i don’t want to wait until everything is perfect or all our enemies are dealt with or the stars align. I want" He slid off the couch, onto one knee, and pulled out a small box. "I want to marry you, for real this time. Not as strategy or protection or obligation. As partners, equals. As two people who love each other and want to build a life together."

He opened the box. Inside sat a new ring, the inside was stunning—a sapphire surrounded by diamonds, unique and beautiful and so perfectly me that my eyes filled with tears.

"I know we’re already engaged," Damien continued. "But I wanted to do this properly. To ask you to marry me when we’re both free—free from Marcus’s threats, from Vivian’s sabotage, from the past weighing us down, so Aria Monroe" His voice was thick with emotion. "Will you marry me? Not because of contracts or threats or obligations. But because you love me and I love you and we want to spend our lives being annoyingly happy together?"

"Yes." The word came out choked with tears. "Yes, of course yes."

He slid the ring onto my finger—it fit perfectly—and then he was kissing me."I love you," he murmured against my lips. "God, I love you so much."

"I love you too." I was crying and laughing simultaneously. "And Damien? This ring—it’s perfect, right now I have two rings but how did you know sapphires are my favorite?"

"Because I pay attention." He kissed me again. "To everything about you. Your coffee order, your favorite flowers, how you fidget when you’re nervous. I know you, Aria. All of you. And I’m going to spend our marriage proving it every single day."

"DADDY ASKED MAMA TO MARRY HIM!" Noah’s shriek came from the hallway. "I HEARD IT! WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!"

Damien and I broke apart, laughing as Noah came running."Does this mean we’re a forever family now?" He bounced excitedly. "Like really forever?"

"Really forever," I confirmed, pulling him onto my lap. "Daddy and I are getting married."

"Can I be the ring bear?" Noah asked eagerly. "Emma’s cousin was the ring bear at a wedding and he got to wear a fancy suit and everything!"

"Ring bearer," Damien corrected with a smile. "And yes, buddy. You can definitely be the ring bearer."

"YES!" Noah pumped his fist. "This is the best day ever!"

As Noah ran off to tell his dinosaurs the news, Damien pulled me back into his arms."Our son is going to drive the wedding planner insane," he said.

"Probably." I smiled against his chest. "But Damien, I don’t want to wait. I don’t want a huge society wedding that takes months to plan. I just want—us. Our family. Something simple and meaningful."

"How simple?" he asked.

"Like—next month simple." I looked up at him. "Is that crazy?"

"It’s perfect." He kissed my forehead. "Completely, wonderfully perfect. We’ll get married here, in the penthouse. Just family and close friends. Noah as ring bearer. Olivia as your maid of honor"

"And Lucas can be your best man," I added. "Since you two have become friends through all this chaos."

"Lucas Hayes as my best man." Damien shook his head in amused disbelief. "Few months ago all I wanted to destroy him for looking at you, now I’m asking him to stand up at our wedding."

"Character growth," I teased. "It looks good on you."

"Everything looks good on me." He grinned. "It’s a gift."

"And humble too." I laughed. "How did I get so lucky?"

"We got lucky." He turned serious. "Both of us. We found each other again when we’d both given up. And Aria" His voice dropped. "I know I said this at the hospital, but I need you to really understand it. What you said to me at the warehouse, about the Blackwood curse being broken—you did that. You broke it. By choosing love over hate, mercy over revenge, building over destroying. You saved me from becoming my father. And you’re teaching Noah that love isn’t weakness. That family protects each other. That being good is worth the hard work. That’s" He stopped, overcome. "That’s everything."

"We did it together," I said softly. "You chose to change, Damien. You did the work. I just—believed you could."

"And that belief saved my life." He kissed me again. "So thank you. For seeing the man I could be instead of just the monster I was."

"Always." I touched his face gently. "I’ll always see you, Damien. All of you. The good, the bad, the complicated. And I’ll choose you anyway. Every single day."

"Every single day," he echoed.

We sat together in comfortable silence, Noah’s excited chatter about weddings filtering in from his room, the city sparkling beyond our windows.

This, this was what happiness felt like. Not perfect—we still had Marcus’s trial to get through, my company and his to fully merge, Noah’s questions about complex family dynamics to answer.

But I was happy as my phone buzzed with a text from Olivia."CALL ME IMMEDIATELY."

I laughed, showing Damien the text.

"You better call her," he said. "Before she storms the penthouse demanding details."

"In a minute." I snuggled closer to him. "Right now, I just want to sit here with you and soak in the fact that we’re actually doing this. Building a life and being disgustingly happy."

"We are pretty disgusting," Damien agreed solemnly. "Noah said so himself."

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