“While my family chased profit,” he said, “she sat beside me. She is my wife. Anyone who challenges her, challenges me.”
Silence crashed over the room.
Brooke’s smirk vanished.
Clara finally breathed.
A New Beginning
Weeks passed. The world gossiped. Daniel stood firm.
When reporters gathered outside the hospital, he took Clara’s hand.
“This is my wife,” he said. “And I stand by her.”
The clip went viral.
Her mother’s health improved.
“See?” her mother whispered. “You were meant for more.”
One golden morning, Daniel led Clara to the garden of the estate.
Sunlight spilled through roses.
“What is this?” she whispered.
He knelt, opening a velvet box.
“Our first wedding was built on lies,” he said. “This one is built on choice.”
“I want you, Clara. As my partner. My love.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Yes,” she whispered. “A thousand times yes.”
They kissed under the archway—
Not as strangers bound by force,
but as two souls who chose each other.
That night, in their small apartment, Clara placed her sketchbook beside her mother’s locket.
Daniel sloeg zijn armen om haar heen.
« Je hebt me in leven gehouden in die pagina’s, » mompelde hij.
