"I had a dream. I got everything I wanted."

- Billie Eilish

...

gently stroke Reed's mane. Yesterday was the best day of my life but Christian had to destroy it. We sat on this very horse, I felt just like a princess.

I couldn't sleep the whole night and now at six in the morning, I'm standing in the stables in an oversized hoodie, barefoot. I just wanted some fresh air but found myself here.

"Victoria," a voice calls me from behind, startling me.

"Lorenzo," I turn around.

"He's beautiful, isn't he?"

I go back to stroking him, "Yes. He is."

"Victoria, I am not here to defend my son but I want you to why he behaved like that."

"Lorenzo, I-"

"Trust me, you would want to hear this," he gives me a sad smile. "Something like this happened many many years ago with me but instead of you it was my daughter."

Daughter.

"My beautiful two-year-old daughter who was killed by a rival gang," he reveals. "The situation was the same, my rival told me to give up something very special to me but I thought I could protect my family but I failed. If I had done what I was told to, I'd have my daughter here today with me. Christian was the one who took it the hardest. He found her dead body in her bedroom. They slit her throat and wrote a message on the wall with her blood. Imagine a barely ten-year-old Christian coming across his baby sister's body, after that, something in both of us snapped. I became less of a father and more of a torturer to Christian."

"I made him suffer so much. Our family always felt incomplete. Christian never had time for girls but he came home with you it was like everything fell in place. Our family was complete, again." He gives me a soft smile, "You were perfect, everything I wanted my daughter to be. Karla felt the same way, she got so attached to you and every night we spent together she would always talk about you. And Christian... I've never seen him like that. That traumatic event and with the way I treated him, he was so emotionally closed off that when I saw him with you for the first time I felt he was... not Christian."

"It was like a switch flipped overnight and he was a completely different person. I couldn't remember the last time I saw him smile. You can only imagine what was going through his head when you got kidnapped. He cried when he lost you, he cried when he found you, he cried when he sat next to you on that hospital bed. And one thing I know about my son is that I've never seen him cry. Not even when he found his sister dead. He was always taught that crying is a sign of weakness but with you, he doesn't care about anything as long as he's with you."

"What he did with you was stupid but when he was put in the same situation I was put in his first instinct was to protect you. He didn't care about the consequences as long as you were safe," he sighs. "Think about it Victoria, then talk to him. He's miserable."

I wipe the tears off of my face. My poor Christian. He went through so much and he never told me.

"He never told me," I whisper out my thoughts. "I told him everything but he never told me what happened or how he felt."

Lorenzo steps forward and embraces me, "He never talks about how he feels but I'm sure he is very open about how he feels towards you."

"But he could've and I would have understood him. I never him like that." I gulp, "So and cold and... numb."

Lorenzo pulls back wipes my tears, "Now you know and I'm sure you'll figure out what to do."

I nod, not being able to say anything.

"It's breaking my heart just to think about it," I croak out.

"You've also been through so much dear, I can't imagine what you'd have felt all those years but I can tell you one thing. Be there for each other and keep that love strong. You'll both be untouchable."

"I need to go talk to him. Like now."

"I saw him near the lake before coming here."

"Thank you," I wipe my face. "I need to go to him."

He gives me an encouraging smile and I dash out of the stables to the front of the house. I immediately see Christian standing near the lake with his hands in his pockets, dressed immaculately in a navy blue suit.

I call out his name in a broken whisper when I'm only a few steps away from him.

He tenses up and turns so fast that it almost gave me whiplash.

"Baby..." He croaks out when his eyes set on my wet and sleep-deprived face.

"Christian, I'm so sorry," I cry out stepping towards him. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who should be saying sorry," he hesitantly brings his hands up to my face. His hands gently stroke my making me close my eyes.

I step on my tiptoes to wrap my arms around his neck and start sobbing.

There were so many things Lorenzo didn't tell me but I'm smart enough to fill in the blanks. I can't even the harsh childhood he must have endured to shape him into the man he is. Amara told me that he used to be ruthless but I never thought much about it. But now, everything has fallen into place.

"Mea dea, why are you crying? What happened?" He wraps me in his protective embrace.

"Lorenzo told me," I sob out. "He told me about your sister."

His entire body freezes.

"You should have told me, Christian. I would have understood."

"Victoria..." He trails off not knowing how to respond.

I pull back and brush my lips against his softly. "You don't have to say anything."

He sighs, "I'm sorry."

With that, he captures my lips with his own kissing me deeply with longing. His tongue traces my bottom lip softly before he pulls back.

"I love you so much, baby."

I peck his lip and whisper the words back, "I love you."

"You still love me?" He pulls back, confused.

"Of course, I still love you. What kind of question is that?"

"I thought after-"

I cut him off with a sharp glare, "Well you thought wrong."

He takes a breath of relief.

"Now where's that damn ring?"

He chuckles and with that everything is perfect.

Little did I know it was the complete opposite.

...

...