---- Chapter 24 Emily POV: "Are you sure?" | whispered, my voice thick with tears as | looked from the obscene diamond to the legal document that represented his entire life's work. "Josiah, what if you regret this? What if... what if you find someone else one day?" He shook his head, a look of absolute certainty in his kind eyes. "That's not going to happen," he said, his voice firm. "There has only ever been one person for me, Emily. The only thing I'm afraid of is you waking up one day and realizing you don't feel the same." | laughed through my tears. "That's not going to happen." "Then marry me," he breathed. "Yes," | said, my voice clear and strong. "Yes, | will marry you." He slid the pink diamond onto my finger. It fit perfectly. On our wedding day, a quiet ceremony at the Paris city hall, a notification popped up on my phone. A wire transfer for an astronomical sum from an anonymous offshore account. The memo line contained only two words: I'm sorry. Killian. ---- Without a moment's hesitation, | accepted the transfer. It was a debt owed, not to me, but to my brother. When | told Josiah later, he tried his best to look stern, but his eyes were twinkling. "My money is worth more than his," he grumbled, pulling me into his arms. "l forbid you from spending any of that tainted cash. You're only allowed to use mine." "You're such a child," | laughed, kissing him. "I'm your child," he corrected, his lips finding mine. | didn't keep the money for myself. With Josiah's full support and a significant additional contribution from his own funds, | established the Leo Ramos Foundation, a global charity dedicated to providing educational scholarships and support for children who, like me, had their schooling cut short by tragedy or hardship. "We can't change the past," Josiah said, his arm wrapped around me as we looked over the foundation's charter. "But we can damn well make the future better for someone else." | leaned my head on his shoulder, my heart overflowing with a love so peaceful and profound it felt like coming home. | was lucky. Incredibly, impossibly lucky to have found him. The sunlight streamed through the window of our apartment, bathing us in its warm glow. The ghosts of the past were finally silent, their power gone. Whatever challenges the future ---- held, | knew we would face them together. And that was a foundation that no one could ever tear down.