Damien booked the entire Jules boutique, the same Stephanie tried her dress in but before we went there to select my engagement dress Damien insisted we make a stop.
The elevator pinged once as entered the operational executive floor of giant Storm Enterprises meeting without his wheelchair.
Whispers flew like sparks.
“He is walking! Master Damien is back on his feet!”
“Oh my god… Is that… Lavina Winslet?”
I felt their stares, but I stood tall beside Damien, my palm entweined with his. Damien’s name was carved in silver on of the large cubicles.
But the true shock came when he stepped passed it and went straight to the board. Taking one step at a time, we walked past the stunned employees to the boardroom, where every top–level executive of Storm Enterprises sat frozen.
One of the old men stood in astonishment, a wide smile covering his face. “Sir, y–you’re… you finally look yourself after so many years!”
Damien smiled. “Mr.Julian…. Love is a powerful medicine.”
And then, to everyone’s astonishment, he turned to me and said with a soft smile, something no–one ever thought they would see on the dangerous man’s face “Gentlemen, allow me to
introduce the woman behind it all. Lavina Winslet.”
He gestured to the head of HR “Bring, Lavina’s file and show it to board.”
The room quieted as pages of my resume were turned silently and soon project records reflected on the screen. My years at Hamilton Enterprises, the financial disaster I salvaged during a messy acquisition, the auction planning I led without a single flaw… every messy fire I put out while being quietly tortured behind closed doors.
No one spoke for a long while.
Then one of the oldest board members stood and clapped slowly. “This woman is a storm herself.”
Damien turned to me, eyes glowing. “Lavina is more than that. She is my future.”
And then right there in the middle of the boardroom he turned to face the room and said clearly:
“I am going to marry Lavina Winslet.”
The room erupted into applause.
And for the first time in my life, I wasn’t someone’s burden.
I was someone’s choice.
The boutique was buzzing when we arrived.
Cameras flashed from across the street. Paparazzi clung to fences. But no one dared cross the Stone security perimeter.
Inside, the atmosphere shifted. Stylists greeted me with wide eyes and reverent voices, as if I were royalty.
Chapter 24 h
2:38 pm
“I never imagined seeing the infamous Lavina Winslet like this,” one whispered to her colleague. “She’s…glowing.”
Damien waited patiently as I tried on gown after gown.
One in blush pink. Another in champagne gold. Each time I emerged, his eyes followed me like I held his universe.
“You look like an angel darling.” he murmured, again and again.
But when I stepped out in the final gown, a shimmering cerulean masterpeice that flowed like water around my ankles, Damien stood up from his chair, hurridely crossing the room and without a word, picked me up and spun me in the air.
I laughed, breathless. “Damien!”
“You are not real my darling.” he whispered as he set me down. “You look etheral.”
He turned to the boutique owner. “Bring the sapphire necklace set.”
P
The staff looked at Damien with their mouth wide open, even the owner was startled as one of the most expensive sets in the country that nobody dared even place a bet on.
“Yes!”
I watched the velvet box being discarded as Damien took out the necklace, the stones being a perfect match. Blue sapphires which resembled his eyes….stark and electrifying the first time he told me he would protect me.
As Damien clasped the necklace around my neck I didn’t notice who passed by the glass
storefront outside.
But Damien did.
And so did he.
Alexander.
Through the polished glass, Alexander stood like a man caught in the eye of a hurricane.
He wasn’t dressed like a CEO anymore. He looked unshaven, disheveled. Hollow.
His breath hitched as he saw Damien press a kiss to my cheek.
Then I turned.
I smiled at Damien. My head tilted back as he whispered something that made me laugh.
I touched his face.
And then I kissed him.
Soft. True. Forever.
That was the moment Alexander lost it.
He slammed a hand against the glass door. Security moved in, but Damien raised a hand.
Damien clutching me to his chest, my back towards the glass as he motioned the security to let Alexander watch….feel what he lost.
Alexander’s eyes were wild. His jaw tightened as his eyes met Damien’s dangerous ones. His lips trembled as he took a step forward in fury.
Checter 28
2:39 pm
D
“Mine” Damien engulfed my body protectively as he silently mouthed to Alexander.
