After My Heart Died, The Don Begged Crying at My Feet novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: At Her Feet
On Friday night, Nolan Hall was so full that men stood two deep along the brick.
Every captain was there, and so were their wives and sons and the old widows from the dock families.
Renata sat in the front row in her black dress with her gold cross back on its chain.
Fitz stood at the foot of the platform with his cap in both hands.
I sat in my father's chair in a green dress, and I kept my hands on the oak arms.
The doors opened at nine.
Dominic stood in the doorway in a dark suit, with his arm out of its sling and a stiffness in his shoulder that he was hiding.
The hall went silent.
He walked the whole length of it, slowly, alone, past every table.
Nobody spoke.
I watched him come, and I felt my heart beating hard against my ribs, alive and sore and loud.
It had been so quiet in there for so long.
He stopped at the foot of the platform.
He looked at me for a moment.
Then he took off his father's signet ring, the heavy gold one every man on the Coast feared, and laid it on the bottom step.
"This is the Ventresca ring," he said. His voice carried to the back wall. "I could have asked you in my own house. I could have asked you at my own table, with my own men, in my own chair. I'm asking you here."
He went down on his knees.
He went down on both of them on the old boards of my father's hall.
Twenty captains watched him do it, and their families, and his mother.
I heard Renata draw a breath.
"Anneliese Nolan," Dominic said. "I hurt you in the worst way a man can. I was with another woman while you cooked for me. I left you to grieve our child alone. I don't have a good reason for any of it."
Keep reading free with an account. Start After My Heart Died, The Don Begged Crying at My Feet from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 22 · All chapters · Chapter 24 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend