The island breeze was warm, brushing softly against Isabel's skin as she stood barefoot on the deck of their Santorini villa. Below, the ocean stretched wide and endless, kissed gold by the late afternoon sun.
Adrian appeared behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "You've been quiet today."
"Just soaking it in," she said, leaning into him. "This... us... it still feels like a dream sometimes."
"But you earned this dream," he whispered. "Every part of it."
They spent the first few days of their escape doing nothing but breathing—napping under the sky, reading, swimming in the infinity pool. Their phones were turned off. No reporters. No schedules.
Just peace.
---
One evening, Adrian surprised her with a candlelit dinner on a rooftop terrace. The sunset poured over them like honey. Soft music played in the background. Isabel wore a white linen dress, her hair loose from the breeze.
He lifted his glass. "To us. And to finding each other in the chaos."
"To surviving it," she added.
He leaned closer. "To building something better because of it."
After dinner, they walked barefoot along the shoreline. Adrian paused suddenly.
"I have something for you."
He pulled out a small velvet box—not another ring, but a gold necklace. A tiny flame pendant.
"For the fire you carry," he said. "And for the way you lit mine."
Tears gathered in her eyes as she let him clasp it around her neck.
They kissed under the moonlight, slow and deep, as waves lapped around their ankles.
---
Back at the villa, they lay tangled in each other, skin against skin, no rush, no barriers. There was no fear left between them—only need. Only love.
He whispered her name against her collarbone. She responded with fingers threading through his hair. Every movement was a conversation, a confirmation.
"I love you," she said softly.
"I love every part of you," he breathed. "Even the broken ones. Especially them."
They didn't sleep until dawn.
---
In the morning, Isabel woke to find a note beside her pillow:
"Let's never go back to surviving. Let's stay living. Wherever we go next... let's go there together." – A.
She smiled, tucked it into her journal, and stepped outside, barefoot again.
The sea still stretched endlessly.
And for the first time in forever, the horizon didn't scare her.
It called her forward.