Sweet Love 2x: Miss Ruthless CEO for our Superstar Uncle

Chapter 406: Meeting the In-Laws

The main Rochefort estate was alive with color.

The garden had been transformed. Tables draped in white cloth were arranged across the lawn, each one crowned with centerpieces of pale blue and silver flowers. Balloons bobbed in clusters, tied to chairs and archways and the low branches of the old oak trees that bordered the property. A long table near the house held a three-tiered cake: two layers for the twins, one smaller layer for Lexx, decorated with intricate frosting patterns that Amanda had spent weeks discussing with the baker. Fairy lights were strung between the trees, waiting for evening when they would flicker to life.

Amanda had planned everything. Every detail. Every flower arrangement. Every napkin folded with precision. There was even a small, separate display for Lexx: a bassinet-sized canopy decorated with tiny blue stars, a plush rug beneath it, and a hand-lettered sign that read ’Welcome, Little One’ in elegant script.

Arianne sat on a couch near the edge of the garden, Lexx cradled in her arms. He was asleep—had been asleep for the past hour, utterly indifferent to the bustle of preparation around him. His tiny chest rose and fell in steady rhythm. His fingers were curled into loose fists.

She watched Lily and Leo dart between the tables, checking the balloons, examining the cake, conferring with Franz about something that required a great deal of pointing and animated discussion. Lily was wearing a new dress: pale blue, with a satin sash, chosen after three separate shopping trips with Amanda. Leo was in a matching button-down shirt, his hair neatly combed, the whale temporarily abandoned on a chair near the dessert table.

Arianne was nervous.

The words felt inadequate, a vast understatement of the cold, transactional affairs that had defined her experience of extended family. After her mother died, she had kept her distance from the Conways. Visits to the estate had been rare and fraught, every interaction weighted with unspoken judgments. The Summers family had been worse. The fight over succession after Gabriel’s death had been brutal: cousins and uncles circling, alliances in motion, loyalty tallied in quarterly returns and voting shares. There had been no love in those rooms. No warmth. Just the relentless calculus of power.

When the twins had proposed that she marry their Uncle Franz, had presented it with the earnest, unshakeable logic of children who believed they were solving a problem, Lily had said: ’You could have a family. A real one. One that protects you.’ Arianne had been hesitant. Not because she didn’t believe them, but because she didn’t know how to be part of a family. She had never learned.

The first months of her marriage had felt like a careful arrangement. Two people raising Alex and Layla’s children under the same roof. Housemates. Partners in responsibility. She had kept her distance, and Franz had let her, waiting with a patience she hadn’t yet understood was love.

Now she was here. Two years later. A husband she loved. Twins who called her Mommy Aria. A son sleeping in her arms. And a garden full of relatives she had never met, waiting to welcome her into a family she was learning to trust.

Amanda appeared beside the couch. She was wearing a soft lavender dress, her silver hair pinned elegantly, her expression warm. She looked at Lexx, then at Arianne. "How are you feeling?"

"I’m fine," Arianne said.

Amanda raised an eyebrow. "You look like you’re bracing for impact."

"I’m not bracing. I’m—" Arianne paused. "Adjusting."

"To the party?"

"To all of it. The relatives. The attention. I’m not used to this kind of family gathering."

Amanda sat down beside her. "You don’t need to worry. They’ll love you. They’ve been asking about you for months. Some of them have been waiting to meet you since the wedding." She paused. "I know the Conways and the Summers didn’t give you much reason to trust extended family. But the Rocheforts are different. We’re not perfect—no family is—but we take care of each other."

Arianne looked at her. Amanda had been distant in the early months of her marriage, the politeness between them formal and careful, more like armor than warmth. But that had changed. Over time, Amanda had become something Arianne hadn’t expected: a mother-in-law who genuinely cared.

"Thank you," Arianne said.

"For what?"

"For planning this. For the twins. For everything."

Amanda’s expression softened. "You don’t need to thank me. You’re family. That’s what family does."

The guests arrived in a steady stream. Amanda’s younger siblings came first: Margaux, her younger sister, with her husband and two teenage children. Then Vincent’s cousins, a cluster of middle-aged men and women who greeted Franz with backslaps and laughter. Then more distant relatives: second cousins, great-aunts, the kind of people who appeared at weddings and funerals and milestone birthdays.

Some of them Arianne recognized. A woman she had crossed paths with at a charity gala years ago, before the exile, before everything. A man whose company had bid against Summers Corporation for a contract. Faces she had seen across ballrooms and conference tables, now smiling at her over plates of hors d’oeuvres.

They congratulated her. They gushed over Lexx: his dark hair, his chubby cheeks, the way he slept through the noise as if the whole event were beneath his notice. Lily appointed herself the official baby spokesperson, explaining to every guest who approached that Lexx was her little brother, that he had been born exactly when he was supposed to be born, and that his name was spelled with an extra X.

"He’s my brother," Lily said firmly to an elderly uncle who had made the mistake of calling Lexx her cousin. "Not my cousin. My brother. We live in the same house and we have the same mommy and daddy. That’s what brothers are."

"He’s technically your cousin by blood," the uncle said, amused.

"Technically doesn’t matter. He’s my brother. Leo, tell him."

"Brother," Leo said. "Lexx. Brother."

The uncle laughed, raising his hands in surrender. "All right, all right. Brother it is."

Margaux, who had been watching the exchange with a smile, turned to Amanda. "She takes after Alex. He was exactly the same at that age. Remember when he argued with Father about the family tree?"

"He was seven," Amanda said, her eyes warm with memory. "He told Father that second cousins should still be invited to Christmas because ’family is family.’ He wouldn’t let it go for weeks."

"Lily has the same stubbornness. The same certainty."

"Yes. She does."

Margaux touched her sister’s arm. "How are you? Really?"

Amanda took a breath. Around them the party continued: laughter, conversation, the clink of glasses. "I miss him. Every day. Alex. Layla. Some days it feels like it happened yesterday. But it’s gotten easier. Seeing the twins happy, seeing Franz happy, it helps. And now there’s Lexx. And Arianne." She paused. "The family is growing again. It doesn’t fill the space they left, but it adds something new."

"You must be relieved about Franz."

"I am. For years I worried about him. He was so devoted to his career, and he never seemed interested in anyone. I thought he might be alone forever. And then Arianne came back, and everything made sense." Amanda looked across the garden at Franz, who was holding Lexx now, the baby cradled in his arms. "He married her for the company—at first. But it was always more than that. For him, at least. I don’t think Arianne knew, in the beginning, how much he loved her."

"And now?"

"Now I think she knows. Now I think they both know."

Margaux nodded. "Layla and Arianne are very different."

"Yes. Layla was warmth and laughter. Arianne is steel and silence. But they both love fiercely, in their own ways. I love them both." Amanda paused. "I just hope Arianne will eventually feel comfortable with me. She’s guarded. After everything she’s been through, her mother, her father, the Conways, I understand why. But I hope one day she’ll see me as family. Not just Franz’s mother."

"It may take time. Given how things ended with Ysabella."

Amanda looked at her sister. "What do you mean?"

"You’ve forgotten, haven’t you? Ysabella and I attended the same school. We were in music club together."