Chapter 201: You put a ring on my finger while I was asleep?

**Dominic Hale Had Never Been a Man Who Waited**

He had spent decades in a world where waiting meant losing.

Where hesitation got people killed.

Where the things you loved—**the things you wanted most—**were the very things you could never hold onto.

But not this time.

Not with her.

Not with Elena.

He had let her go once.

He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

The inky black sky stretched over the city as Dominic sat in his room, the dim light of a single lamp flickering against the walls.

In his hand was a small velvet box.

It had been with him for thirty years.

Hidden. Untouched.

Because he had never been able to let it go.

Inside was the ring.

A smoky quartz stone, deep and unreadable, just like her eyes.

Set in gold—warm, untamed, like her hair in the sunlight.

He had bought it before she left. Before everything fell apart.

Before he lost her.

And now, after seeing that damn file she had kept hidden, after reading the truth in black and white—he knew.

She had left to protect him.

She had spent all these years carrying that weight alone.

She thought it was too late.

She thought there was still something standing between them.

She was wrong.

And Dominic Hale?

He wasn’t about to waste another damn second.

Their fight had been inevitable.

Two stubborn people. Two wounded hearts.

Neither willing to give in.

Neither willing to admit they wanted the same thing.

The argument had started over something small—an assignment, a strategy, something that didn’t actually matter.

But it had spiraled.

Because, really?

It wasn’t about the mission.

It was about them.

About the years apart. About the anger. The longing. The unfinished sentences. The past they couldn’t change.

By the time they ended up back at her place, neither of them were thinking anymore.

Or maybe, for the first time, they finally were.

Elena shoved him against the door the second it closed.

He let her.

Because he wasn’t stopping this.

Not this time.

Not when he had spent thirty years wanting her.

His hands were on her waist, her back pressed against the wall, her breath heavy against his neck.

They didn’t speak.

They didn’t need to.

Everything was in the way he held her.

In the way she let him.

In the way neither of them let go.

Elena was still asleep when Dominic finally moved.

She looked different like this—peaceful, unguarded, like the woman she had been before the world hardened her.

Like the woman he had fallen in love with before everything went to hell.

And Dominic?

Dominic had never stopped loving her.

Carefully, without hesitation, he took the small velvet box from his jacket pocket.

Opened it.

Slid the ring onto her finger.

No asking. No waiting. No second-guessing.

Because Dominic Hale wasn’t the kind of man who asked for what was already his.

And Elena Steel?

She had always been his.

Even when she left.

Even when she thought she had no choice.

Even when neither of them had said it out loud.

So he wasn’t waiting for her to agree.

She would.

Eventually.

Because she had no choice.

Not when he had already decided.

She was his.

And this time?

She was staying.

Elena stirred, stretching lazily before she froze.

Something was different.

Something was on her hand.

Her left hand.

She blinked, frowning slightly, before her eyes caught the gold band around her finger, the smoky quartz reflecting the morning light.

Her breath hitched.

She knew this ring.

She had seen it once.

A long time ago.

Back when she had still believed there was a future with him.

Before she had left.

Before she had ruined everything.

She turned her head slowly.

Dominic was sitting at the edge of the bed, already watching her, calm, unreadable, but absolutely certain.

She stared at him.

Then at the ring.

Then back at him.

"You son of a bitch," she whispered.

Dominic smirked. "Good morning to you too, Steel."

Elena pushed herself up, holding up her hand like it might explode.

"What the hell is this?" she demanded.

Dominic leaned back on his hands, perfectly relaxed.

"It’s a ring."

Elena inhaled sharply.

"You put a ring on my finger while I was asleep?"

Dominic tilted his head. "Would you have let me do it while you were awake?"

Elena opened her mouth. Closed it.

Because—no.

She wouldn’t have.

And he knew it.

Her glare sharpened. "That’s not how proposals work, Hale."

Dominic shrugged. "Not asking."

Elena’s heart slammed against her ribs.

Her breath was uneven now, her entire world tilting.

"You think you can just—just decide this for me?" she hissed.

Dominic’s smirk faded slightly.

His gaze was steady, unwavering.

"I decided this thirty years ago," he said quietly.

And just like that—the fight left her.

She swallowed hard, staring at him.

At the man she had never stopped wanting.

At the man who had never stopped wanting her.

At the ring on her hand, a promise that had never been broken.

"You’re insane," she whispered.

Dominic’s lips twitched. "I know."

She exhaled shakily, running a hand through her hair, staring at the ceiling like it held all the answers.

But there weren’t any.

Just him.

Just this.

And the terrifying realization that—no matter how much she wanted to argue, to push back, to fight—

He was right.

He had already won.

Because she wasn’t taking the ring off.

And they both knew it.

Later

"You did what?!" Liam nearly choked on his coffee.

James, arms crossed, grinning like a lunatic.

"Classic Hale move," he muttered. "Skip the whole ‘asking’ part and go straight to ‘you’re mine now.’"

Zayn shook his head, impressed. "That’s a power move."

Damon smirked. "Told you he wouldn’t waste time."

Seraphina sighed. "You’re all insufferable."

Liam turned to Elena. "And you just—what? Accepted it?"

Elena scowled. "I woke up with the damn thing on my finger, Carter. What was I supposed to do?"

James smirked. "Take it off?"

Elena glared.

James grinned wider.

"Exactly," he muttered.

Because she hadn’t.

And in the end?

That was all that mattered.

Dominic had decided.

And so had she.