Chapter 12 - On Bent Knees
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The midnight air on the private terrace was crisp and cold.
Sophia stood alone by the stone balustrade, looking out over the sparkling lake.
The heavy wooden terrace doors clicked shut behind her.
She didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
The scent of cedarwood and Scotch gave him away before he even took a step.
Adrian walked toward her slowly, his usual swagger entirely gone.
He stopped three paces behind her, looking at the smooth arch of her bare back against the green silk dress.
“Sophia,” he whispered, his voice cracking with an agony he could no longer conceal.
Sophia did not turn around.
“The lake is beautiful tonight,” she said quietly.
“When I lived in your house, I could only see the high brick walls of the courtyard.”
Adrian took a ragged breath.
“I was a fool,” he said, the words tearing out of his throat like rusted metal.
“I was blind, arrogant, and stupid.”
“I didn't know what you were doing for me.”
“I didn't know about the manifests, or my mother, or Isabella’s theft.”
Sophia turned around slowly, leaning her back against the cold stone railing.
She looked at him with an expression of heartbreaking neutrality.
“You didn't know because you never bothered to ask, Adrian.”
“You never looked at me as a person.”
“To you, I was just a quiet girl you bought with a wedding ring to look respectable for the council.”
“That isn't true!” Adrian took an impulsive step forward, his hands trembling at his sides.
“I respected you—”
“You told forty guests that I knew my place,” she interrupted, her voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper.
“You told me in your study that I was the shame of your name.”
Tears welled up in Adrian’s dark eyes.
The ruthless mafia boss who had executed enemies without blinking was now crying in the cold night wind.
Slowly, under the moonlight, Adrian Romano dropped to both knees on the flagstones.
He knelt before the woman he had discarded, bowing his head in total submission.
“I am on my knees, Sophia,” he wept, clutching the hem of her emerald gown with shaking hands.
“I have never begged any human being in my entire life.”
“I am begging you now.”
“Come home.”
“Take the entire business.”
“Take my name, my fortune, my docks, everything.”
“I will step down and let you run the Romano family.”
“Just... please don't look at me like I am a stranger.”
Sophia looked down at the man kneeling at her feet.
Three weeks ago, this sight would have healed her broken heart.
Three weeks ago, an apology like this would have brought her back into his arms.
She reached down with gentle fingers and lifted his chin so his tear-streaked eyes met hers.
Adrian’s heart leaped with a desperate, wild hope.
“Adrian,” she whispered with infinite tenderness.
“When you broke that vase in the study three years ago, do you remember what you told me?”
Adrian blinked through his tears, confused.
“No,” he breathed.
“You said that once porcelain shatters, you can glue it back together with all the gold in the world, but it will never hold water again.”
Adrian’s face drained of all color.
Sophia pulled her hand away, wiping her fingers lightly against her silk dress.
“I am not angry with you, Adrian.”
“And I don't hate you.”
“Hate requires feelings, and I have none left for you.”
She stepped around his kneeling form, her heels clicking softly against the stone.
“Get up off your knees, Mr. Romano.”
May you like
“You look weak.”
She pushed open the terrace doors and walked back into the warmth of the ballroom, leaving the mafia king kneeling in the dark, clutching nothing but the cold night air.
