Page 31 of Saved By the Billionaire
"I'd do worse if necessary." I pull her into my arms. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you when he grabbed your wrist?"
"I'm fine. Better than fine." She buries her face in my chest. "Thank you. For protecting me. For choosing me."
"Always," I murmur into her hair. "I'll always choose you, Belle. No matter what."
We stand there on my front steps, holding each other, and I feel the weight of what just happened settle over me. I hit my son. Threatened him. Cut him out of my life completely.
And I don't regret it for a second.
Because Belle is safe. Belle is here, in my arms, choosing to stay despite having just witnessed me attack my own flesh and blood.
That's all that matters.
The rest, all the guilt, the complicated feelings, the knowledge that my relationship with Nathan is permanently destroyed, I can deal with later.
Right now, I just need to hold the woman I'm falling in love with and remember why all of this was worth it.
Epilogue - Belle
Five Years Later - Vienna
"Mama! Mama, look! Snow!"
I turn from the floor-to-ceiling windows of our hotel suite to find our three-year-old daughter, Grace, named after my mother, pressed against the glass, her small hands leaving prints on the pristine surface. Outside, snowflakes drift down over Vienna's historic streets, coating everything in white.
"I see it, baby girl." I cross the room and scoop her up, settling her on my hip. She's wearing the little red velvet dress I bought for tonight's trip to the Christmas markets, her dark curls already escaping from the braid I attempted this morning.
Grace presses her nose to the window, her breath fogging the glass. "Can we go now? Papa promised hot chocolate!"
"Papa promised a lot of things," Richard's voice comes from the bedroom doorway, and I turn to see my husband leaning against the frame, watching us with that soft expression he reserves for his daughter and me. "But first, you need your coat, princess. It's cold out there."
He's dressed in one of his immaculate suits: charcoal gray today, tailored perfectly to his body. At fifty, Richard Kane is somehow even more devastating than he was five years ago. Silver streaks his temples now, and there are laugh lines around his eyes that weren't there before. But he's still the most handsome man I've ever seen.
And he's mine. Has been for five years, legally for four. My husband, Grace's father, the man who saved me and then gave me a life I never dreamed possible.
"Don't want coat," Grace announces, her current favorite phrase.
She's hit the stubborn stage. Richard's determination combined with my newfound refusal to be pushed around makes for one incredibly strong-willed toddler.
"No coat, no Christmas markets," Richard says, crossing to us. "No hot chocolate, no gingerbread, no—"
"COAT!" Grace shrieks, wriggling in my arms. "Want coat, Papa!"
I laugh, setting her down, and she races to the couch where her little pink coat is laid out. Richard helps her into it, patient as always, doing up the buttons while she chatters about everything she wants to see tonight.
I watch them together, my heart so full it aches. Richard is an incredible father. He’s attentive, patient, playful in a way I never would have expected from the serious billionaire I met five years ago. He reads Grace bedtime stories every night we're home, takes her to the park on Saturdays, lets her paint his nails when she asks.
Nothing like Nathan would have been. Nothing like the cold, controlling monster I almost married.
I don't think about him much anymore. After that confrontation at Richard's house, we never saw him again. My lawyer, the excellent one Richard hired, handled everything. Restraining order, settlement of my belongings, legal protection. Nathan tried to fight it initially, but Richard made good on his threat. Within six months, Nathan's business opportunities dried up, his reputation damaged beyond repair.
Last I heard, he'd moved to Europe. Victoria went with him, of course. Still enabling, still making excuses.
I don't care where they are, as long as it's far from me and my family.
"Earth to Belle." Richard's hand on my shoulder brings me back to the present. "You okay?"
"Perfect." I smile up at him. "Just thinking about how lucky I am."
