Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 552

I reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped, three feet from her. I could not move. Could not speak. Could only stand there and look at her, at this woman who had somehow chosen me, who had looked at every broken and careful piece of me and decided I was worth keeping.

"You are staring," she said, her voice soft and amused.

"I am memorizing," I replied. "I want to remember exactly how you looked the first time I saw you at our estate."

She stepped forward, close enough that I could smell her perfume. "Then look well. I am not going anywhere."

I offered her my hand. She took it, and her fingers were warm and steady in mine. The cameras caught everything. Every angle, every glance, every breath. The world was watching, and I did not care. Let them watch. Let them see what it looked like when a man found the woman he was born to love.

I led her up the stairs, slowly, giving the cameras time to capture her from every angle, giving the guests inside time to understand that the woman walking through those doors was not just a guest or a date. She was the reason for everything.

The doors swung open as we approached, and the ballroom fell silent.

Every head turned. Every conversation stopped. People, dressed in their finest, holding their champagne flutes and their carefully cultivated expressions, turned to look at the woman on my arm.

Celeste did not flinch. She held her head high, her smile soft and sure, and she walked into that room like she had been born to own it. The silence stretched for one more beat, two, and then the whispers began. Not cruel whispers, not the sharp edge of gossip. Just the sound of people realizing they were in the presence of something rare.

I led her to the center of the room, where a stage had been set up beneath a canopy of white flowers and crystal lights. The master of ceremonies, a silver-haired man named Charles who had been hosting events for my family since I was a boy, stepped forward with a warm smile.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, his voice carrying easily across the room, "we are gathered here tonight to celebrate something extraordinary. A love that has defied expectations. A union that has already proven itself stronger than the forces that sought to tear it apart. I give you Dominic Ford and Celeste Adams."

And the lights went out.

The room plunged into darkness, and a collective gasp rippled through the crowd. But before anyone could panic, a single spotlight flared to life, catching us in its warm glow. The rest of the room vanished. There was only the light and her, and the moment I had been rehearsing in my head since the first taste of her lips.

I let go of her hand. I took a step back. And I lowered myself to one knee.

The crowd gasped again, this time with understanding. I heard Charles chuckle softly into the microphone. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, it seems Mr. Ford does not believe in waiting."

I reached into my jacket and pulled out the ring box. Black velvet, simple and elegant. I opened it, and the diamond inside caught the spotlight and threw it back in a thousand points of light. A cushion-cut stone, flawless and colorless, set in a platinum band so delicate it looked like it had been woven from threads of light. I had rejected dozens before I found this one, because nothing less than perfect would do for the woman who had made me believe in love.