Tony had left. All we had as confirmation of his compliance was how frightened he had been and then handshakes.

I trusted the promise he had made, and knew it was better for all of us that Tony would work under and for Capra Corp instead of being eliminated wholly or business annexed to Ben.

As it was late and I was exhausted, the second Tony had left I had made my way into the walk-in wardrobe to begin getting ready for bed. Ben had called on Vinnie and then gone to make a few calls regarding this new arrangement in his office.

I had slipped out of my gown and changed into pyjamas, before seating myself at the vanity to remove my makeup and clean my skin.

I had quickly texted Mr Capra Sr, telling him all had gone well and that an agreement had been reached. I didn't go into details, as I knew Ben would inform him further.

Kelly had texted me about our next lesson, asking if she should bring James over again after how well him and Ben had gotten along, but I decided to reply to it in the morning.

A feeling of accomplishment remained, but I hadn't appreciated Ben's reactions toward the end. Despite the dislike he felt for Tony, I wished he would have kept professional and been more considerate of me when I wanted to avoid anyone else getting hurt or dying because of all this.

There was a knock at the entrance of the wardrobe. I looked over to see Ben standing there, still wearing his suit pants and black dress shirt, coat discarded somewhere.

"Hey," I offered him a small smile, now putting on moisturiser. He returned my smile and walked inside slowly.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, voice low and calm. He was tired as well.

"I'm alright," I told him, standing up now that I was finished, "how are you?"

"I'm good," he closed the space between us, hand carefully finding my waist as his dark eyes searched mine, "you were very impressive."

"I was? I was surprised as well, that an actual idea could fit into my little head," I joked, smiling when he chuckled and shook his head at me.

"I'm serious, Sofia," he told me, "and I need to apologise for being a dick to you. I just... he irks me. He's a sad excuse of a man and I can't stand him."

"The plan was to gain his loyalty, not kill him," I reminded him and he sighed, "I know he's not your favourite person, but it doesn't mean you can treat me as if I'm not your equal, or as if my opinion doesn't mean anything."

"I know. And you proved it tonight," he leaned in to kiss the side of my head gently, "I'm sorry. Maybe I am still a little annoyed that you're working for him."

"If and when this agreement goes through, I'll technically be working for you," I giggled lightly, finding it amusing after all this time of adamantly resisting any chance to work under Ben.

He grinned, "is this a full-circle moment, then?"

"Maybe," I decided, "but I do accept your apology. For next time, let's get our plan more straight before going into something like that."

"I love that you say 'our'."

"You're cute," I leaned up to kiss him quickly, "and you don't need to dislike Tony because of him and I having dated. It's in the past, I only have eyes for you, and he is my friend. Or was, before all of this..."

There was a part of me that mourned the loss of Tony as a close friend. I couldn't consider him as such anymore, after what he had done.

Ben nodded, studying my expression as my smile faded, understanding my feelings at this moment without me having to explain them to him.

"I love you, you know that?" He enveloped me in his strong arms and held me against his firm front in a warm hug, making me feel so content and complete.

"Ben," I began, unsure of how to tell him this, "I don't know if this is too soon, but because we agreed that once this was over we would start on our future, I haven't taken my pill today yet."

Something flashed in his eyes after he had pulled back, but he gave no further reaction, making me feel a little awkward and as if I was rushing this. There was still Winston and a lot of paperwork to take care of, as well as other practical matters with Tony, but on the most important level this was all over now.

"There's still a few days of protection, and of course I can still take it today incase it's too fast—" I continued, starting to feel bad about my choice with his lack of response.

"Wait, I have something for you," he gave me a quick grin before abruptly leaving the room.

I sighed and sat back down onto the chair of my vanity, confused and tired, and now slightly embarrassed.

Ben returned less than a minute later with a piece of paper, seeming very proud of himself and excited. I turned on my seat to face him, when he surprised me by kneeling down in front of me.

"Sofia, I love you," he began, and I grew more confused. It looked as if he was proposing, but instead of a ring he had a paper. This would look quite amusing to an outsider, as I was very ready for bed with pyjamas on, while he was still in his suit pants and dress shirt, looking nothing short of the sinfully sexy Don that he was.

"You surprise me daily. You make me want to grow and be a better person," Ben continued, watching my confused expression with a growing genuine smile, yet I began to feel like he was playing a joke on me, "I want to share my life and everything in this world with you, I couldn't picture myself ever loving anyone else the way I do you."

"Ben..." His words were beautiful and touching, but I had to see what was on the paper.

"I will burn every man who has ever touched you-"

"Don't be dramatic," I had to laugh, and he joined in.

"Sorry, I'm just excited," he grinned and glanced down at the paper in his hands.

"About what?" I inquired, trying to peek and see what was written on it.

"I know this clashes with your weird housewife kink," he gave me a cheeky wink and handed the paper to me, "but I want you to be copartner in Capra Corp."

My eyes widened and I took in the paper, the gorgeous man still kneeling in front of me. He was being serious. The paper had the first page of a document, signing half of Capra Corp's ownership to me. It had been drawn up and signed by Ben over a month ago, before all the drama with Winston and Tony started.

Ben was seriously asking me to run the business and the world with him.

"You're intelligent and I have the utmost respect for you. I trust you," he placed a hand on my thigh, voice growing more low and meaningful now, "what do you think, love?"

"Yes, of course. I'm honoured," I had to let out a laugh, so taken aback, "this is- wow, I wasn't expecting this at all. Is this your way of proposing to me?"

I was still taking in the paper, too focused on it to pay attempting to Ben shifting a little.

"No," he cleared his throat, "this is."

My smile faded when I looked up from the paper, only to find him holding a ring in his free hand.

"Oh, Lord..." I breathed out shakily, staring at him as tears clouded my vision. I blinked and a few of them fell out, my hand quick to wipe them away.

I felt overwhelming adoration to this man, and him kneeling in front of me with a ring in his hand and that look in his eyes made my heart burst with love.

"Sofia, will you marry me?"

I lunged at him, arms wrapping around his neck as he stumbled back a little, chuckling as he caught his balance and hugged me back.

"Careful, it's my mother's ring," he kissed the side of my head as I squeezed the life out of him, "it's a yes or a no, baby."

"Yes, yes," I repeated hastily, pulling back to cup his jaw and kiss him passionately. I felt him smile against my lips, before kissing me back and pulling me more against him with his free hand as the other still held the ring.

"I never thought this would happen to me," Ben admitted after a moment, both of us now sitting on the floor as I took in the ring that he had placed on my finger, "and I can't believe it's with you."

I took his hand in mine and squeezed it, offering him a loving smile. His eyes were filled with emotion, as he now looked down at the ring.

"I was crazy about you from the first time I saw you," he began, a small laugh leaving his lips, "and I think I fell in love with you two minutes later, when you called me an asshole and stormed out of my office."

"You really were an asshole," I giggled at the memory, bringing his hand to me and giving his knuckles a gentle kiss, "but a very sexy asshole."

"I've been an asshole to you a lot," his dark gaze met mine again, "I'll spend the rest of our lives making up for it."

"Honey," I awed and brought a hand up to cup his jaw, my thumb brushing over his cheek softly, "that's all in the past now."

Ben offered me such a pure smile it made my heart ache.

"How about that baby then, huh?" he joked to change the subject, smile morphing into a suggestive grin.

I laughed and leaned over to kiss him again.

"I need to check when I'm ovulating, but I guess we could start practicing now..." I grinned against his lips.

His hand cupped the back of my neck to hold me to him, and the kiss turned increasingly fervent and needy.

I wasn't sure if we were going to make it to the bedroom, even as it was adjoined to the wardrobe we were still in.