Page 157 of Code of Heart

Charles clapped his hands together, shaking Levi from his heated thoughts. “Alright, lovebirds. Let’s do this before the sun sets completely.”

The ceremony was intimate, filled with soft laughter and vows spoken with absolute certainty. This time, there were photos captured; Owen and Estrella made sure of that.

When Levi slid the wedding band back onto her finger for good this time, something settled deep inside him, down into the core of his existence. Something precious that intertwined his soul with Aurelia’s.

It was the infallible knowledge that he was home.

Later, as they stood by the water watching the last traces of daylight slip beneath the horizon, Levi handed her a nondescript folder bound with a dark blue ribbon.

“What’s this?” Aurelia asked, her brow lifting in curiosity.

“Open it,” he said, his eyes gleaming with quiet anticipation.

She carefully untied the ribbon and flipped through the pages, then stiffened, surveying the various legal documents, charters, and deeds.

Levi had done it. He had made Aurelia’s dream real. Starhaven Manor would become a sanctuary for kids aging out of fostercare who needed a fresh start and a safe place. Exactly what she had once needed…she now could provide it to others.

Wrought with emotion, her eyes filled with tears as she turned to him. “Levi, this is—”

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. “It’s yours,” he said simply. “It was always meant to be yours.”

Tears slid down her cheeks, but for the first time in so long, they weren’t born from pain. She pressed her lips to his, letting the warmth of their future—ofeverythingthey had fought for—wash over them.

A new beginning not born of luck or circumstance but forged by choice. By every heartbreak they survived, every wall they tore down for each other. This wasn’t a love that simply happened; it was a love they fought for, bled for, and chose again and again.

Their lives were no longer separate threads but a single, unbreakable tapestry—one they were finally ready to live together. For the rest of forever.