Three years later.

The sun was setting over the golden hills of Tuscany, casting a breathtaking canopy of gold, rose, and violet across the sky.

On the wide stone terrace of their Italian villa, Roman and Sadi sat together on a cushioned bench under an ancient wooden pergola draped with grapevines.

In the courtyard below, twenty-nine-year-old Stella, her husband, twenty-seven-year-old Leo, and three-year-old baby Maya were playing on the lawn, their joyful laughter drifting up through the warm evening air.

Roman wore a simple white linen shirt, his silver hair catching the golden sunlight. He wrapped his heavy arm securely around Sadi’s shoulders, pulling her close against his side.

Sadi wore a soft cream silk dress, her dark hair laced with graceful silver strands that she wore like a crown of honor.

"What are you thinking about, my Queen?" Roman asked softly, kissing her temple, his voice rich with deep, eternal affection.

Sadi rested her hand over his chest, feeling the steady, strong, comforting thud of his heart—the heart that had beaten for her through every battle, every trial, and every triumph.

"I was thinking about the first night I walked into booth 4," Sadi smiled softly, looking out over the endless, glowing Tuscan horizon. "I was so scared, Roman. I had forty-three dollars in checking, and I thought the whole world was against me."

Roman turned his head, looking into her dark, brilliant eyes that held his entire universe.

"And what do you see now, Sadi?" Roman asked softly.

Sadi looked up at him, a radiant, beautiful smile illuminating her face as she leaned up to kiss his lips.

"I see a life where love won every single war," Sadi whispered.

Roman smiled, tightening his grip around her as the first stars began to sparkle in the twilight sky above Italy.