Chapter 129 129. You Are My Always
Pride bloomed in my chest the moment the notification dropped.
Paycheck deposited: $6,847.32
My first real check from the remote job. It felt surreal. My life was really back to normal. No ankle monitor restrictions, no legal drama hanging over my head, and I still have my man who's madly in love with me.
It is time to do something that has been in the back of my head for a while now.
Take Lucien out!
The restaurant reservations took two phone calls and name-dropping Lucien Hayes, which felt like cheating, but I needed tonight to be perfect. The gift took longer. I spent an entire afternoon browsing vintage watch shops in Manhattan, searching for something that felt right.
I found it in a tiny shop in the Village. A 1960s Omega, rose gold, leather band worn soft with age. Beautiful and timeless, perfect for my man.
"Can you engrave it?" I asked the owner.
"Of course. What would you like it to say?"
I thought for a moment, pen hovering over the paper. 'To the man who gave me time' felt too simple. This needed to say more.
Finally, I wrote: 'In every second, in every breath, you are my always. - C.S. to L.H.'
"Perfect," the owner said, reading it. "She'll love it."
"He," I corrected, smiling. "He'll love it."
I told Lucien to dress nice but gave him no other details. He tried to get information out of me all afternoon.
"Where are we going?"
"Out."
"What's the occasion?"
"Does there need to be one?"
"Fiera, just tell me-"
"Just trust me." I kissed him to stop the questions.
He found out where we were headed after I inputted it to his car's GPS. The restaurant was exactly as elegant as I'd hoped.
Crystal chandeliers cast a soft, amber glow over the space. It is a place where people spoke in hushed tones, where the sommelier could describe wine the way poets described love, where time slows down, turning every whispered conversation into a choreographed dance of light and shadow.
The hostess led us to a corner table with a view of the city lights. Lucien pulled out my chair, eyes scanning the room with that habitual assessment he always did in new spaces.
"This is expensive," he said quietly as he sat.
"I'm aware, and it's my treat."
"Well," he raised a delighted brow, "I better sit back and enjoy this treat from my princess."
And he did!
Dinner was perfect. We talked about everything and nothing. My remote job workload, his latest headache with the Hayes Corp board, whether we should get a cat for the penthouse.
"I don't like animals," he had protested.
"Have you even ever interacted with one?"
He replied with a shrug.
"Pets are sweet. I'm gonna make you love them, but I won't force them on you, promise."
Our easy conversations were punctuated by stolen touches and long looks that made my stomach flutter. When dessert arrived, I pulled out the small wrapped box I'd been hiding in my purse all evening.
"What's this?" Lucien eyed it with immediate suspicion.
"Open it and find out."
He unwrapped it like it was something fragile and irreplaceable. When he opened the box and saw the watch, his breath caught audibly.
"Camila-"
"Look at the back."
He turned it over. I watched his eyes move across the engraving, watched his expression shift from surprise to something deeper and softer, more vulnerable than I'd seen him in a long time.
"It's nothing compared to all you have given me and done for me," I started, suddenly nervous. "But I wanted you to have something from me. Something that says-" I took a breath. "You gave me time when I had none. Time to heal, time to write, time to become someone I'm proud of. You've given me so many things, Lucien. Security and safety and love and a future I never thought I'd have. You've made me feel real in a way I never have before. I'm not just surviving anymore, I'm actually living. And I wanted you to know that every second I spend with you is a gift. That you're my always."
I hadn't realized my falling tears until it hit the white tablecloth.
Lucien stood abruptly, came around the table, and pulled me up into his arms. Right there in the middle of the elegant restaurant with other diners watching, he held me while I cried into his shoulder.
"No one's ever done this for me," his voice was rough against my hair. "Not even Rafael. Everyone just assumes that I have everything, that I don't need anything because I can buy whatever I want. But this, what you just said, this watch-" He pulled back to look at me. "This is the most valuable thing anyone's ever given me."
"I'm really not-"
"To me you are everything." He kissed me, soft and sweet, and I tasted salt from tears I wasn't sure were his or mine. "Thank you, Fiera. For seeing me. For knowing what I needed even when I didn't know I needed it."
We sat back down but he kept holding my hand across the table, thumb tracing circles on my palm while we finished dessert. When the check came, he reached for it automatically, but I was faster.
"Don't you dare, Mister. I said it was my treat."
The seriousness in my expression must have convinced him to let me have this and he didn't argue. Walking back to the car, his arm around my waist, I felt lighter than I had in months. The night air was cool, the city alive with lights and sounds around us.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you," I said as we reached his car. "My website goes live tomorrow with my books. Well, two-thirds of it. The first two books in the trilogy."
"That's amazing." He pulled me closer before opening my door. "Are you nervous?"
"Terrified." I laughed, the sound slightly unsteady. "I probably should have done more promotion first. Damon said I should have been posting on social media for weeks. You know, building hype, doing all that influencer stuff. But I just wanted it out there. Even if no one reads it."
"People will read it." His voice carried absolute certainty. "Your writing is incredible."
"You're biased."
"I'm right." He pressed a kiss to my temple. "Are you quitting the remote job?"
"God, no. The books are a side project. Something I love doing. But I need the stability of a real paycheck too. The remote job stays."
"Smart woman." His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and his expression shifted to something darker.
"What's wrong?"
"Rafael sent me a news alert." He showed me the headline: RONAN HAYES ATTEMPTS PRISON ESCAPE, MOVED TO MAXIMUM SECURITY
"He tried to escape?"
"Him and Victor, apparently." Lucien scrolled through the article. "They were caught during a prisoner transfer. Now they're both in maximum security with additional charges added to their sentences."
"So he's locked up even tighter now." That was a huge relief.
"Much tighter." Lucien pocketed his phone and opened my car door. "He's not getting out anytime soon. Probably not ever, with the new charges."
We were packing for Vienna the next evening when Lucien's phone rang. I was folding one of the night wears I'd bought specifically for the trip while he carefully placed several of the toys we'd discussed into his suitcase with a knowing smirk I pretended not to see.
My birthday was tomorrow. We'd be waking up in Vienna, celebrating with that masquerade ball he'd promised me months ago.
Lucien glanced at his phone and his entire body went rigid.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Mount Sinai Hospital." The first person that came to my mind was Rafael, but Lucien's flat voice told me otherwise.
He answered, putting it on speaker. "Lucien Hayes."
"Mr. Hayes, this is Dr. Morrison. Your father, Maximilian Hayes, collapsed this evening. Given the severity of his condition, we thought you should be notified..."