Chapter 10 - Beyond Priceless
Two years later, the Costa estate looked entirely different.
The stone mansion no longer felt like a cold, echoing museum of grief. It was alive with the sound of music from the piano room, the smell of fresh apple pie drifting through the sunlit kitchen, and the joyful shouts of children playing tag across the sprawling green lawns.
In the center of the garden, beneath a canopy of blooming white cherry blossoms, family and close friends had gathered for a celebration. There was no press, no corporate executives, and no federal agents—just the people who mattered.
Julian was off at college, home for the weekend and laughing with his younger siblings. Felix, Flora, Theo, and Samuel were running around with sparklers, while Eliana—now seven—proudly wore a flower crown made of daisies.
I stood near the stone gazebo in a simple, elegant white summer dress, the vintage emerald ring catching the warm afternoon sunlight on my hand.
Leonardo walked up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder, exactly as he had done on that snowy evening two years ago.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked softly, pressing a gentle kiss to my cheek.
“I was just thinking about my old brown suitcase,” I murmured, leaning back into his solid embrace. “And how close I came to walking away from that Manhattan sidewalk because I thought I was just interviewing to be a cook.”
Leonardo turned me around in his arms, his dark eyes filled with a deep, unshakable love that had anchored both of our lives through every storm.
“You never were just a cook, Abigail,” Leonardo whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “You were the best thing that ever happened to this family. You brought light into a dark house, truth into a world of lies, and a love that is truly beyond priceless.”
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I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck as the sun began to set over the rolling hills of New York, painting the sky in brilliant shades of gold and amber.
We had won the war, saved the empire, and built a home that nothing could ever tear apart. And as Leonardo pulled me close for our first dance of the evening, I knew our story was only just beginning.
