Dear Ex Wife Please take me back (Athena and Alex) novel Chapter 195

ATHENA

Ever since I laid my eyes on this man, I've wanted him to be mine. I felt like I was out of his league, so even when I ended up marrying him, keeping our marriage a secret came as a relief.

I was afraid of being judged. Being called not good enough, fat, gold digger, and all sorts of mean things people say online these days. But somewhere along the way, I learned that not everyone would love me or compliment my body.

Not everyone will think I'm good enough to carry the King name. But those things don't matter because as I look at the man kneeling before me, every doubt disappears from my mind, making me feel like the most cherished and the most loved woman to ever walk the face of the earth.

Somehow, my heart knows that the moment he opens his mouth, I'll melt into each word.

“Athena,” His deep voice begins.

His hand reaches for mine, sending shivers down my spine.

His green eyes never leave mine, steady and glowing like embers in the dark.

“I know I’m not perfect,” he says. “Hell, you’ve seen the ugliest parts of me. The anger. The cold. The darkness. But you stayed.”

My throat tightens.

“You stayed when I pushed you away. You loved me when I didn’t deserve it. And you gave me something no one else ever could, peace. Light a home and a beautiful boy.”

A tear rolls down my cheek, but I don’t wipe it away.

“I want to spend the rest of my life giving that back to you. Making sure you never feel unloved. Unseen. Unwanted. Uncherished.”

He pulls out a velvet box and opens it, revealing a ring that sparkles so fiercely under the lanterns that it looks like a star.

“Will you please marry me again?” His smile tilts as his thumb brushes my knuckles. “But this time, I'll let the whole damn world know you’re mine.”

My mouth dries in shock because not only has Alex never been the type to ask, he has always been the type to take with no questions asked.

If anyone had told me years back that he would be on his knees asking and not commanding, I would have called a mental institution because that would have made me think they were absolutely crazy.

He has changed.

Into so much more, my heart swells in joy as the tears fall down my face. He stands, his eyes alert as he searches mine, tapping my body.

“Are you hurt?” He asks in an alarmed tone.

I shake my head.

“Is it the proposal? Did I mess up?” He runs a hand through his hair, “Baby, please don't cry. It's driving me crazy. And not the good kind of crazy.”

“I'm crying because I'm happy! And yes, I will marry you.”

Alex exhales a heavy breath of relief, his tense shoulders relaxing as if my “yes” just saved his soul.

“Damn, woman,” he mutters, grabbing my waist and pulling me into him. “You scared the life out of me.”

“I should be the one saying that,” I laugh, my tears soaking into his shirt as I bury my face into his chest. Another shocking thing is him letting me mess his shirt with my makeup.

Alex hated anyone touching his things or him. He never ate food touched by other hands or someone else. Ryan usually moved around with gloves. I would notice that whenever Sloane touched his food, he'd stop eating and leave it for her but wouldn't say a word about it.

So I purposely stained his glass with lipstick, and he shocked me by drinking from the very spot. Even now, he pulls me tighter instead of pushing me away for messing up his perfect shirt.

“You’re out here giving me heart attacks with all this romance.” I mumble.

He chuckles softly, his lips pressing into my temple, lingering like he never wants to let me go again. “You deserve romance, baby. You deserve everything.”

“I'll mess up your life, you know. I'm not as orderly as you are.”

“Then I guess I better get used to a little chaos.”

His voice cracks slightly, and I feel his hands tremble just a little against my back.

It breaks something in me and mends it all at once. This man, this brutal, guarded, ruthless man is trembling because of me.

We stay wrapped up in each other for a moment, the music still playing faintly in the background, the fireflies dancing above us like our own private stars.

Then he pulls back, cupping my face with both hands. “Can I put the ring on now, or are you going to cry again and make me think I broke you?”

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