A few weeks later, the world looked different.
Not because it had changed, but because I had.
The honeymoon had been everything Jace promised. With long mornings wrapped in his arms, quiet walks by the sea, stolen kisses that made the rest of the world disappear, the best sex we’ve ever had. I didn’t realize how much I needed that ti until it ended. For the first ti in years, there was no fear in the background, no tension waiting around the corner. Just... peace. Real, ordinary peace.
But eventually, even paradise had to end.
And so we ca back.
The jet landed in Los Angeles early on a Thursday morning. The sky was a soft, cloudless blue. It was probably the kind that felt like an on for good things. I wasn’t sure. I pressed my forehead against the window, watching as the familiar skyline ca into view.
Ho.
Except it didn’t feel like ho yet. Not quite.
The penthouse was beautiful, but it was too full of mories of old argunts, dark nights, and ghosts I didn’t want to keep seeing in corners. I thought we’d return there, at least for a while, but Jace had been oddly quiet all morning. It was a familiar kind of quiet that usually ant he was planning sothing.
By the ti we got into the car, he was already checking ssages and exchanging brief looks with Tomas in the front seat. Tomas was in LA and ca to pick us up.
"Why are you being so suspiciously silent?" I asked, side-eyeing him.
He smiled faintly. "You’ll see."
"Jace," I warned.
"Just trust , Mrs. Romano." He chuckled slightly.
I sighed but smiled anyway. "You know, one of these days, I’ll stop trusting you on instinct."
"No, you won’t."
I laughed, shaking my head. He wasn’t wrong.
The car moved through downtown, then past the familiar neighborhoods. When we turned off the main road and started climbing a quiet street lined with olive trees and modern villas, my confusion deepened.
"Where are we going?"
He just reached over, resting his hand on mine. "You’ll find out soon."
A few minutes later, the car rolled to a stop in front of a sleek white building with glass walls, trimd hedges, and a sign above the entrance that made my breath catch.
"Mira’s Hearth."
My na. My bakery.
After the reveal of being the owner a few months ago, I had the na changed. There was no need for hiding anymore.
Jotted back to the present, I blinked, unable to process it at first.
"Jace... what—" My words faltered.
He was already getting out of the car, walking around to open my door. "Co on," he said softly. "Let show you."
I stepped out, my heart hamring in my chest. The morning air slled faintly of sugar and coffee. There were soft pastel awnings over the windows, and through the glass, I could see the warm interior of light wood, golden fixtures, and shelves already stocked with pastries. I even saw a few workers that I recognized from my branches in Lisbon.
"This isn’t—" My voice broke. "This can’t be real."
Jace smiled. "It’s very real."
I turned to him, eyes wide. "You...You built this?"
He nodded. "I know LA has been a lot for you since you moved back from Lisbon, so I thought to bring your passion closer to you. I started planning it during the ti of us planning our vow renewal and here we are."
"Jace, this is..." I covered my mouth as I trailed off, tears instantly welling up. "This is insane. You didn’t have to..."
"I wanted to," he said simply. "You gave peace, Mira. The least I could do is give you sothing that belongs entirely to you."
That did it. The tears ca before I could even stop them. I pressed a hand against my mouth and tried to laugh through it, but it just made him smile wider.
He brushed a thumb over my cheek. "Don’t cry. You’ll make look bad."
I laughed softly, wiping my eyes. "You already do."
He led inside, and I swear I could have cried all over again.
The bakery slled like heaven. There was vanilla, cinnamon, a hint of coffee in the air. The soft hum of the espresso machine ca from the counter, and the glass display cases glead under the morning light. Behind them, the kitchen was spotless and fully stocked. Everything was new ovens, mixers, even the utensils were engraved with MH.
I turned in a slow circle, trying to take it all in. "This feels like a dream."
He leaned against the counter, watching with that quiet, content smile he got whenever he saw happy. "It’s yours, baby. Every inch of it."
I looked at him with wide eyes. "Do you realize how insane that sounds? You don’t just hand soone a bakery."
"You’re not ’soone,’" he said, voice low and steady. "You’re my wife. And you’ve spent too long building everyone else’s world. It’s ti you built your own."
I felt my chest tighten, but it wasn’t sadness. It was love, the kind hat fills you up until it almost hurts.
"God, you’re so cheesy," I said, smiling through another wave of tears.
"I’ve been called worse."
I crossed the room and threw my arms around him. "I love you so much, Jace."
He kissed the top of my head. "I know. But I love you more."
We stood there for a while, just holding on to each other in the middle of the bakery that slled like my past and my future all at once. We didn’t even mind if anyone was looking.
Eventually, I pulled back, grinning through the tears. "I have to bake sothing. Right now."
He laughed. "You just landed, Mira."
"I don’t care. I need to feel the dough between my fingers."
"Then go ahead," he said, shrugging, already rolling up his sleeves. "Show how it’s done."
I laughed again and dragged him to the kitchen. The next hour was chaos — flour everywhere, butter smudged across his cheek, my hair a total ss. But God, I hadn’t laughed that hard in months.
When the first batch ca out of the oven, golden and perfect, Jace took one bite and gave a satisfied groan. "Still the best thing you’ve ever made."
"Don’t say that while you’re eating it. You’ll jinx it." I warned him playfully.
"Impossible."
He reached out, wiped a bit of flour off my cheek, and kissed right there in the middle of the kitchen. For a mont, everything slowed, the hum of the machines, the morning light spilling through the windows , all of it fading into background.
It felt like new beginnings.
~
Later that afternoon, I thought we were heading ho.
Except... apparently, Jace had a different definition of "ho."
The drive wasn’t long, maybe twenty minutes. But when we turned into a quiet cul-de-sac tucked away behind rows of sycamores, my pulse started racing again.
The car stopped in front of a modern white villa with wide windows, a black iron gate, and a fountain in the driveway.
"Jace..." I whispered. "What is this?"
"Our ho," he said simply.
I turned to him, eyes wide. "No. No, this is too much. You’ve already given —"
"I told you I wanted a new start," he interrupted gently. "This is it. No ghosts, no old walls. Just us."
He stepped out, motioning for to follow.
The gate slid open, revealing a driveway lined with tiny lavender bushes. Inside, the air slled faintly of fresh paint and new beginnings. The living room was warm and bright, soft beige tones, tall ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows that opened into a garden.
And in the middle of it all was a grand piano, gleaming under the sunlight.
I turned back to him, speechless.
"You play when you’re stressed," he said, shrugging. "Now you’ll have sowhere beautiful to do it."
I laughed, my voice breaking. "You’ve officially ruined for life."
"That was the goal."
I walked through the house like a child exploring a dream. There was a large kitchen with marble counters, a cozy study that slled faintly of cedar, a library lined with shelves just waiting for books. Upstairs, the master bedroom opened to a balcony with a view of the city lights.
And there, waiting on the bed, was a simple white box tied with a satin ribbon.
I looked at him questioningly.
"Open it," he said.
Inside was a set of keys and a small fra. Inside the fra, a handwritten note in his neat, unmistakable script.
Here’s to every Chapter we’ll write in this house. Welco ho, mia cara.
My throat tightened instantly.
I looked up at him, the man who once terrified , who later taught how to breathe again, who now stood in front of with the kind of love that left undone.
"You’re going to make cry again," I whispered.
He smiled softly. "That’s fine. I’ll just kiss them away like always."
And he did.
~
That night, I stood on the balcony, looking at the city below. The lights stretched endlessly, flickering like tiny promises. Inside, I could hear Jace moving around with his laughter low and easy as he talked to Tomas over the phone.
I didn’t know what tomorrow would look like, but for the first ti in a long ti, I wasn’t afraid of it.
I turned back toward the room, my gaze catching on him, barefoot, shirt undone, his hair slightly ssy. He smiled when he saw .
"You look like you’re thinking too much," he said.
"Just... thinking about how lucky I am."
He crossed the room and pulled close. "Then we’re both lucky."
I smiled against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
The city lights flickered behind us. The night slled like lavender and rain. And for the first ti since everything began, I felt completely and utterly ho.
There were perks of being married to a billionaire mafia Don after all.
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