Sophia was in her room packing when she heard the front door slam with enough force to rattle the windows. She'd been home from the gala for barely an hour, just long enough to wash the humiliation from her face and throw her belongings into suitcases with shaking hands.
She couldn't stay. Not after tonight. Not after being paraded around like a trophy only to be dismissed as "the help" over and over again. Her heart couldn't take another moment of loving a man who was too ashamed of her to claim her publicly.
Heavy footsteps pounded up the stairs, and Sophia's hands stilled on the sweater she was folding. She knew that stride, knew the particular way Alexander took the steps two at a time when he was agitated.
The door to her room burst open without a knock, and Alexander stood in the doorway, still wearing his tuxedo but with his bow tie undone and his hair disheveled from running his hands through it. His dark eyes were wild, desperate, as they took in the suitcases on her bed.
"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded, his voice rough.
Sophia didn't look up from her packing. "I would have thought that was obvious. I'm leaving."
"No." Alexander strode into the room, his presence filling the space and making her pulse race despite everything. "No, you're not leaving."
"Yes, I am." Sophia finally met his gaze, her own eyes blazing with hurt and determination. "I told you at the hotel, I'm done. I quit. Effective immediately."
"I don't accept your resignation."
Sophia laughed bitterly, turning back to her suitcase. "You don't get to decide that. I'm not your property, Alexander, despite how you treated me tonight."
"That's not…" Alexander ran both hands through his hair, clearly struggling for words. "Tonight was a mistake. I made a mistake."
"A mistake?" Sophia whirled to face him, her carefully maintained composure finally cracking. "Which part was the mistake? Bringing me in the first place? Dressing me up like I belonged there? Or spending the entire evening making sure everyone knew I was just the hired help?"
"All of it!" Alexander shouted, his own control snapping. "All of it was a mistake because I should have introduced you as what you really are!"
"And what's that?" Sophia demanded, tears threatening again. "What am I really, Alexander? Because I'm honestly not sure anymore."
Alexander stared at her for a long moment, his chest heaving with emotion. When he spoke, his voice was raw, broken.
"You're the woman I love. You're the woman who brought light back into my children's lives and air back into my lungs. You're the woman who makes me remember what it feels like to be alive instead of just existing."
Sophia's breath caught, but she forced herself to remain strong. "Pretty words. But actions matter more, and your actions tonight spoke volumes about what you really think of me."
"My actions tonight were those of a coward," Alexander said, stepping closer. "A terrified, stupid coward who was so afraid of what people would think, so afraid of not being good enough for you, that I hurt the most important person in my world."
"Not good enough for me?" Sophia stared at him in disbelief. "Are you insane? You're a billionaire CEO and I'm…"
"You're everything," Alexander interrupted fiercely, closing the distance between them until he was close enough to touch. "You're kind and brilliant and brave and beautiful, and you love my children like they're your own. You're so far out of my league it's not even funny."
"Then why?" Sophia's voice broke on the question. "Why do you keep pushing me away? Why do you keep hurting us both?"
Alexander's hands came up to frame her face, his thumbs brushing away the tears she hadn't realized were falling. "Because I'm terrified of losing you. Because everyone I've ever loved has left me, and I'd rather push you away than wait for you to realize you deserve better and leave on your own."
"You idiot," Sophia whispered, her anger mixing with heartbreak. "Don't you understand? I'm not leaving because I think I deserve better. I'm leaving because you won't let yourself believe you deserve love."
Alexander's face crumpled at her words. "I know I don't deserve you. I know that. But please, Sophia, please don't leave me. Don't leave the twins. We need you. I need you."
"Needing me isn't enough," Sophia said quietly, even as her resolve began to waver at the raw pain in his voice. "I need to be claimed, Alexander. I need to be chosen. I need to be loved openly, proudly, without shame or reservation."
"Then let me choose you," Alexander said desperately, his hands sliding into her hair. "Let me choose you right now, in front of the whole world if necessary. Let me prove that you're not just someone I need, you're someone I choose, every day, for the rest of my life."
Before Sophia could respond, Alexander was on his knees before her, his hands gripping her waist as he looked up at her with eyes blazing with love and desperation.
"I love you, Sophia Martinez," he said, his voice carrying clearly through the room. "I love your strength and your compassion and the way you make my children laugh. I love how you challenge me and comfort me and make me want to be better than I am. I love how you taste like sunshine and feel like home in my arms."
Sophia's hands flew to her mouth as Alexander continued, pouring his heart out at her feet.
"I love that you're not intimidated by my money or my reputation. I love that you see through all my walls and love me anyway. I love that you fight for what you believe in, even when what you're fighting is me and my own stupidity."
"Alexander," Sophia whispered, her voice thick with tears.
"I love you desperately, completely, irrevocably," he continued, his own voice breaking with emotion. "I love you so much it scares the hell out of me, and I've been handling that fear in the worst possible way. But I'm done being afraid. I'm done pushing away the best thing that's ever happened to me."
Alexander's hands moved to the suitcase behind her, pulling out the clothes she'd packed and dropping them on the floor. "Don't leave me, Sophia. Don't leave us. Give me another chance to prove that I can be the man you deserve, the man who will stand beside you proudly no matter who's watching."
Sophia stared down at this powerful man on his knees before her, this proud CEO who had just laid his heart completely bare, and felt her carefully constructed walls beginning to crumble.
"How do I know you won't panic again?" she asked quietly. "How do I know you won't go back to being ashamed of me the moment someone questions our relationship?"
Alexander stood slowly, his hands never leaving her body, and when he spoke, his voice was steady with conviction.
"Because I'm more ashamed of how I treated you tonight than I could ever be of loving you. Because the thought of losing you is infinitely more terrifying than any judgment from people who don't matter. Because you've shown me what real courage looks like, and I want to be brave enough to love you the way you deserve."
He cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs stroking her cheekbones with infinite tenderness. "Because I realized tonight that introducing you as 'the nanny' was the biggest lie I've ever told. You're not the nanny, Sophia. You're the woman I want to marry. You're the mother I want for my children. You're the love of my life, and I'm done pretending otherwise."
Sophia's breath caught at his words. "Marriage?"
"If you'll have me," Alexander said, his voice rough with hope and fear. "If you can forgive me for being an idiot. If you can trust me to do better, be better, love you better."
For a long moment, they stood there in the lamplight of her bedroom, surrounded by scattered clothes and open suitcases, the weight of his declaration hanging between them.
"I don't want pretty words," Sophia said finally. "I want actions. I want proof that you mean what you're saying."
"Name it," Alexander said immediately. "Anything. Everything. Tell me what you need and I'll do it."
Sophia looked into his eyes, seeing the sincerity there, the desperate love, the man behind the walls finally standing completely exposed before her.
"I need you to claim me," she said quietly. "Publicly. Proudly. I need everyone to know that I'm not just your employee or your dirty little secret. I need them to know I'm yours and you're mine."
"Done," Alexander said without hesitation. "Consider it done."
"I need you to stop running when things get scary. I need you to fight for us instead of against us."
"Done," he repeated, his hands tightening on her face. "No more running. No more pushing you away. Just us, facing everything together."
"And I need you to kiss me," Sophia whispered, her resolve finally breaking completely. "I need you to kiss me and make me believe that this is real, that you really choose me."
Alexander's smile was brilliant with relief and love. "With pleasure, my darling. With absolute pleasure."
When his lips met hers, it was with all the passion and desperation of a man who had nearly lost everything. He kissed her like she was air and he was drowning, like she was light and he'd been living in darkness, like she was his salvation and his damnation all rolled into one.
"I love you," he whispered against her mouth between kisses. "I love you, I love you, I love you. And I'm going to spend the rest of my life proving it to you."
"I love you too," Sophia replied, her arms winding around his neck as she finally let herself believe in them again. "But if you ever humiliate me like that again…"
"I won't," Alexander promised fiercely, sweeping her into his arms. "Never again. From now on, everyone will know exactly who you are to me."
As he carried her to the bed, scattering her suitcases aside, Sophia felt her heart beginning to heal. The words were beautiful, but it was the fierce possession in his touch, the desperate love in his eyes, the way he held her like he would never let her go that finally convinced her.
Alexander Steele had finally stopped running from love, and Sophia was going to make sure he never had reason to run again.