“I planned to do this later, over a romantic dinner, but right now feels like the perfect time. Kind of like us meeting. Life isn’t about creating the perfect life. It’s about living and seeing what it has in store. Not once in all the years Noah used that company did I ever use it, but the first time I did, I met you. And you didn’t even work for them. It was just happenstance you took the job for your friend.
“Yes, I have money and the means to take care of you, and if you let me, I plan to do so every day for the rest of our lives. But it’s not a one-way street. You reminded me about the most important part of this life: love. Maybe that guy in the movie helped her out of her shitty situation, the way I helped you, but you have helped me too. Every day since we’ve met, I’ve laughed and smiled and have gotten to experience what it’s like to fall in love. And really, isn’t that what life is about? Finding the person you want to fall in love with over and over again?”
Isaac pulls a ring box from his front pocket and pops it open, exposing a way too big and beautiful diamond ring. “Many would say what’s happening between us is too soon, too fast, but I’ve never cared what anyone says and I’m not about to start now. I know in my heart you’re it for me. I don’t know what our future has in store for us, but I know you’re the person I want my future to be with.
“What do you say, meu amor? Will you marry me and spend the rest of your life living with me?”
“Yes,” I tell him, the only answer I can give him. “I will marry you and live with you. The good, the bad… whatever life sends our way, I will live it with you.”
He slides the ring onto my finger and then lifts me into his arms, kissing the hell out of me. “Tell me you’re mine,” he murmurs against my lips.
“I’m yours.”
“Damn right you are. Just like I’m yours.”
We spend the weekend celebrating not only my birthday, but our engagement. Isaac does just as he promised and spoils me rotten. From the couples massages, to the gambling, to the hours of making love, we have the best time. We spend one of the mornings touring the city, and an afternoon sailing, and when it’s time to go home, I wish we never had to leave. Of course, Isaac assures me we can come back any time we want.
Once we’re back on the plane and taking off, I realize something… “We never discussed the guns.”
Isaac nods once. “You’re right, we didn’t. But we need to. I was caught up in the moment, in you, but the truth is, we should’ve talked about this before I proposed. You should know what you’re getting into by marrying me.”
“So, it’s true?” I ask, not for the first time. “You’re a criminal?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “I’m a vigilante.”
“A what?”
“Vigilante,” he repeats. “A group of people who undertake law enforcement because—”
“I know what a vigilante is… I watched Arrow.”
He chuckles. “I’m not that kind of vigilante. I have morals…”
“So, what, you’re like Batman?”
Isaac snorts a laugh. “Hardly. I’m more like the middle man. Let me start from the beginning…” He pats his lap and I climb into it like I always do. We’re seated on the comfy, extra-large couch, while Noah is sleeping off his hangover in the bedroom.
“When my mom was eighteen, she was walking home from a college party when a guy attacked her. She was raped and beaten and nearly left for dead.” Isaac’s fists tighten on my hips, but when I flinch from the pain, he loosens them, tilting the side of his lip up in an apology.
“She knew who did it. A guy from her college. They had flirted, but she left without sleeping with him. Apparently he was humiliated that she didn’t give in and wanted to take what he felt was owed to him, while teaching her a lesson. My dad’s the one who found her, and he swears, it was love at first sight. He picked her up and carried her to his house. He took care of her, and the next day they called the police. Since she knew who it was, it should’ve been an open and shut case.”
His jaw ticks, and I have a feeling whatever he’s about to say isn’t good.
“Due to lack of evidence, among a list of other reasons, he walked free. The man who took my mother’s virginity on the dirty ground behind some bushes, then beat her and left her for dead, walked away without anything happening to him.”