Chapter 10: The Day I Became His Always

The paparazzi’s flashbulbs were still burned into my retinas when Adrian burst through my apartment door, his usually immaculate hair in disarray and his tie loosened around his neck. His eyes found me immediately, curled onto the couch with my hand pressed against my growing bump.

“Mia.” My name was a prayer on his lips. He crossed the room in three long strides, dropping to his knees before me. “I’ve been calling for hours. I had to fight through a wall of photographers just to get to the building.”

“I know. I saw the news.” My voice cracked. “Everyone knows now. The whole world knows I’m pregnant with your baby.”

“Our baby,” he corrected, his hands covering mine. “And I don’t give a damn what the world knows, as long as you and our son are safe.”

I searched his eyes, looking for the playboy I’d first met at that charity gala—the man with the devil-may-care grin who’d charmed his way into my life and then vanished when things got complicated. But the man before me was different. His gaze was steady, his jaw set with determination.

“I saw the article,” I whispered. “They called me your ‘secret.’ They said I was just another conquest.”

“You were never a conquest.” His voice was fierce. “You were the woman who changed everything. The night we met, I was lost, Mia. I was drowning in this endless party life that I thought was freedom, but it was just a cage I built for myself. And then you walked in, and you looked at me like I was just some arrogant jerk—which I was—and I knew I had to have you. Not for a night. For a lifetime. I just didn’t know how to say it back then.”

Tears streamed down my cheeks. “You left, Adrian. You left me.”

“I know.” Pain flickered across his face. “I was terrified. Terrified of what I was feeling, terrified that I would ruin you like I’d ruined everything else. My father told me I was worthless. That I’d never amount to anything but a scandal. And I believed him. I ran because I didn’t think I deserved you.”

He reached into his pocket, and my breath caught as he pulled out a velvet box.

“But then you told me about our son.” He opened the box, revealing a stunning diamond ring. “And I realized that I had a chance to be something more. To be the man you deserve. The father our baby deserves.”

“Adrian…” I couldn’t breathe.

“Mia, I love you.” His voice was raw, stripped of all pretense. “I loved you from the moment you told me off at that gala. I loved you when I was too stupid to know what to do with it. And I love you now, more than I ever thought I was capable of loving anyone. I want to marry you. I want to wake up next to you every morning and fall asleep beside you every night. I want to watch our son grow up and teach him how to be a better man than I was. I want to spend the rest of my life proving to you that I’m not the playboy the tabloids made me out to be. I’m yours. Completely and forever.”

The room was silent except for the sound of my racing heart.

“Yes,” I breathed.

His eyes widened. “Yes?”

“Yes, Adrian. I’ll marry you.”

He slipped the ring onto my finger—it fit perfectly, as if he’d known my size all along—and then he kissed me with a tenderness that made the world fall away. When we finally broke apart, he pressed his forehead against mine.

“I’m going to give you everything, Mia. The life you deserve. The family we’re meant to have.”

---

Two weeks later, I stood in a white lace gown in the garden of Adrian’s estate, surrounded by a handful of our closest friends and family. The scandal had died down as quickly as it had erupted—Adrian had issued a statement that was less a denial and more a declaration, telling the world that I was the love of his life and that anyone who dared to disrespect his fiancée would deal with him personally.

My mother was crying in the front row. Adrian’s sister, Elena—the only member of his family who’d ever believed in him—was beaming from the other side.

And then the music started, and I walked toward the man waiting beneath a canopy of white roses.

Adrian’s eyes met mine, and I saw the tears glistening in them. Our son, three months old, was cradled in Elena’s arms, dressed in a tiny tuxedo that made my heart melt.

“You’re stunning,” Adrian whispered as I reached him.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” I whispered back.

We exchanged vows I’d written myself. I promised to love him through every storm. He promised to be the man I always believed he could be.

When the officiant pronounced us husband and wife, Adrian kissed me with the passion of a man who’d finally found his home. And then he turned to Elena, who handed him our son.

“Hey, little man,” he murmured, cradling the baby against his chest. “Your mommy just made me the luckiest man in the world. And you know what? I’m going to spend every single day making sure you both know how much I love you.”

I wrapped my arms around them both, and in that moment, surrounded by the scent of roses and the warmth of the afternoon sun, I knew I had everything I’d ever wanted.

“I love you, Mrs. Sterling,” Adrian said against my hair.

“I love you too, Mr. Sterling.”

He grinned, that old playboy grin that had once made my blood boil. But now it was different. Now it was real.

“You know,” he said, glancing down at our son, “I think we should give him a little brother. Or sister. Maybe both.”

“Adrian!”

“Just saying,” he laughed. “I’ve got a lot of years to make up for. And I plan on spending them all with you.”

I looked at the man who had once been the city’s most notorious bachelor, now holding our son with such tenderness, his wedding ring glinting in the sunlight.

“Happily ever after?” I asked.

“Happily ever after,” he confirmed. “And I’ll prove it to you every single day for the rest of our lives.”

The cameras flashed in the distance—the paparazzi were still lurking, still hungry for a story. But I didn’t care anymore.

Because this wasn’t a scandal. This was my life.

And it was only just beginning.

**THE END**