Chapter 146

Dorian sat there in the parking lot, engine humming quietly, the shadows of the evening slipping like fingers through his windshield.

He didn’t move. Didn’t speak.

Just stared at the dashboard like it held the answers he needed.

The call had ended two minutes ago.

The silence now was absolute.

He slowly reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out the small velvet box.

It felt heavier than before.

He stared at it in his palm. The deep navy exterior, the discreet Sterling jeweler’s emblem on the hinge, the symbol of everything he had hoped to give her.

Vera.

The woman who had walked into his life six years ago carrying nothing but pain and a baby with eyes too sharp, too knowing, too bruised by a world she hadn’t yet met.

Back then, he hadn’t cared where she came from. He only knew she was broken, and so was he.

They’d built something from their cracks.

He opened the box.

The ring glimmered.

A classic cushion cut diamond, framed with tiny sapphires, for strength, loyalty,