His to Love, Not to Claim

Aria's POV
Two Months Later

⸻

The apartment was quiet in a way it hadn't been in months.

Not dead quiet. not with a baby in the next room, but alive quiet.
Like the city had finally taken a breath and let them be.

Aria padded across the marble floors barefoot, robe wrapped around her, holding a lukewarm mug of tea. The scent of warm lavender drifted from the diffuser Dominic insisted on putting in the nursery. Her body still ached sometimes. Her hormones were a mess. But her heart was...

Full.

Terrified.
But full.

In the bassinet by the window, their daughter stirred.
Dark hair, a strong little jaw, those same sharp eyes that Dominic pretended weren't his.

Aria smiled and reached down. "Hi, tiny boss. Ready for round two of no sleep tonight?"

The baby cooed.

Dominic's voice drifted from behind her, low and rough with sleep. "I think she's conspiring against us."

She turned to see him leaning against the doorway, shirtless, sweatpants riding low on his hips, his eyes darker than they'd been in weeks, not cold, just exhausted.

But peaceful.
For now.

"You didn't sleep again," she said softly.

"I will. When she's eighteen."

Aria laughed, quietly. "You're completely gone for her."

"I was gone for you first."

He crossed the room, came behind her, and wrapped his arms around her waist, chin on her shoulder. His hand rested gently over her belly, the space their daughter had filled just weeks ago.

"You're healing," he murmured. "Slow. But you're okay."

"Some days I still feel like I'm walking on cracked glass."

He was quiet. Then: "So do I."

⸻

They didn't talk about Juliette.

Not in full. Not yet.

Aria didn't ask how Dominic had handled her disappearance or what was left of Ivan after that final confrontation. He'd come back that night bloodied, shaking, and raw. And she hadn't asked.

Some answers didn't need words.
Not when you already felt the truth in your bones.

Ezra was gone too. Officially "disappeared."
Unconfirmed reports said he was last seen in Berlin.
Dominic said nothing. Just held her closer whenever his name came up.

Nina still checked in. Quietly. Carefully. She hadn't forgiven herself for missing the signs. Luca's betrayal had cut her deep.

"You protected me," Aria had told her once.
But Nina had only smiled sadly. "You were never mine to protect."

⸻

That night, after the baby finally fell asleep, Aria stood by the window and watched the city lights flicker.

Dominic came up behind her, wrapped a blanket around them both.

"What if peace doesn't last?" she asked, not looking at him.

He was silent for a moment. Then: "Then we fight again."

"I'm tired of fighting."

His voice lowered. "Then I fight for both of us."

Aria turned to face him.

And when he kissed her, slow and deep and grateful, she believed him.

Maybe the past was still out there.

Maybe the shadows weren't done with them yet.

But in this moment, in this home, with this man and their child safe in the next room...

She wasn't afraid.

Not anymore.