Chapter 96

The house was quiet that night, save for the faint hum of the refrigerator and the soft creaks that came from the wooden staircase whenever someone walked past. The twins had finally settled, tucked into their cribs after a long day. Hazel was asleep upstairs too, her laughter and chatter now replaced by the deep stillness of night.

Amelia sat curled on the sofa in the living room, a light blanket draped over her legs. The glow of her laptop bathed her face as she scrolled through Adrian’s proposal again. Numbers, projections, expansion strategies, they were all dazzling, all promising. Yet the name at the top of the file, Cole Holdings, made her chest tighten.

The quiet was broken when Ryan returned from the kitchen with two mugs of tea. He set one gently on the coffee table in front of her before sitting beside her, his presence steady and grounding. Amelia had insisted on him staying back, they had worked from the evening into the night.

“You are still staring a