Chapter 53

Alden POV

The iron gates creak open slowly, their wrought arms pulling apart. At the apex, the elegant 'V' emblem splits in two as the gates yawn wide. The car glides forward, the tires crunching softly over the gravel as we pass beneath a canopy of trees, their branches arching above.

For a moment, the dense copse of trees obscures the view, shrouding the land in shadows. But as we push deeper, the forest falls away, peeling back to reveal the gentle, rolling hills of the vineyard. The sun dips low, casting golden light across the endless rows of grapevines, their neat lines stretching out like the ribs of the earth. Everything in sight that the eye permits is his.