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

Chapter 416: A City That Never Sleeps

The twins were thrilled.

Arianne had gathered them in the sitting room after dinner, the evening light fading to soft gold through the windows, and told them about the trip. They were going overseas. To Rohan. The place where she had lived before she returned to Montclair, before the funeral, before everything.

Lily’s reaction was immediate and explosive. "We’re going on a plane? A real plane? To another country? When? How long? What do we need to pack? Is it cold there or hot? Do they speak a different language? Will we see the house where you used to live?"

"Slow down," Arianne said. "One question at a time."

Lily took a breath. "When?"

"Next week. School term break is approaching, so you won’t miss any classes."

"How long is the flight?"

"About twelve hours. We’ll leave in the morning and arrive in the evening, their time."

"What’s Rohan like? Is it like Montclair?"

"It’s different. It’s a city that never sleeps. There are always people on the streets, always shops open, always lights on somewhere. Montclair is calmer. Rohan is louder. Bigger. There’s more of everything."

Lily’s eyes were wide. "Are we staying at your old house? The one where you lived with Aunt Estella and Uncle Gio?"

"No. When I lived there, I leased a manor on the outskirts of the city. It was peaceful, less noise. But we won’t be going back there. We’re staying in a hotel suite, closer to the center."

"Can we bring our toys?"

"You shouldn’t bring too many. You can buy souvenirs in Rohan instead, something to remember the trip by. But Petal can come." Arianne looked at Leo. "The whale can come. And Mr. Penguin for Lexx. Those are essential."

Lily nodded with the gravity of someone making important decisions. "Petal has to come. She’s never been to Rohan. She’ll want to see everything. I’ll make sure she doesn’t get lost."

Leo looked down at the whale in his lap, then up at Arianne. "Whale comes," he said. Not a question.

"Yes. The whale comes."

He gave a single nod, satisfied, and returned to stroking the worn blue plush.

Lily, who had been watching her brother, leaned over and patted the whale on the head with the gravity of someone ratifying a very important decision. "Whale is ready," she confirmed.

Leo shifted the whale slightly out of reach. Not unkind. Just precise about who was in charge of the whale.

"Lily," Arianne said.

"I was just saying hello to it."

"The whale knows you. You don’t have to announce yourself."

Lily considered this, then seemed to find it reasonable. She folded her hands in her lap and returned to the business of asking questions.

Franz was seated on the couch across from them, Lexx cradled in his arms. The baby was awake, his dark eyes tracking the ceiling light with the solemn attention of someone cataloguing the world. Franz had said little throughout the conversation. He had been listening. He was always listening when Arianne talked about Rohan.

Lily had more questions. She always had more questions.

"Will Lexx remember the trip?"

"He’s too young. But you can tell him about it when he’s older."

"Can I take pictures? Proper ones, not just phone ones? Can I bring the camera from the study?"

"If you’re careful with it."

Lily sat up straighter. "I’m always careful."

"You dropped the camera in the garden last month."

"That was Leo."

Leo looked up from the whale. He did not confirm or deny this.

Arianne looked between them, then let it go. "You can both use the camera. Carefully."

Lily wanted to know about the food. About whether Rohan had good ice cream. About whether Arianne’s friends there would come to meet them.

Arianne answered each one, her voice patient, her answers precise. She described the harbor district at low tide, the way the fishing boats sat low in the water and the smell of salt came in off the sea even in the middle of the city. She described the market that ran along the eastern quay, the stalls that sold spiced nuts and paper lanterns and fabrics in colors that didn’t exist in Montclair’s shops. She described the way the light fell over the water in the early morning, golden and thick, the kind of light you could almost touch.

Lily was rapt. "Are the people there nice?"

"Mostly. Like anywhere else."

"Will they know who we are?"

Arianne paused. "Some of them will know me. They won’t know you. That’s part of why it’s a good time to go. You’ll just be two children on a trip with their family. Nobody watching, nobody expecting anything. You can just be yourselves."

Lily turned this over. Then: "I think I’ll like it."

"I think you will too."

Leo, who had been listening without appearing to listen, the way Leo always did, looked up from his whale. "Will you show us the places you know?"

Arianne met his eyes. Something in her expression settled. "Yes," she said. "I’ll show you all of it."

He nodded and went back to the whale. That, for Leo, was settled. The whale was coming. Arianne would show them. Everything else was detail.

Franz listened to all of it. He had never heard her speak about Rohan this way: with warmth, with detail, with the ease of someone describing a place that had been home. He had only ever known her as the woman who came back. He had never known the woman who had been there, building something in that city, becoming whoever she had needed to become.

Across the room, Lexx made a small sound in his arms. Franz looked down at him. The baby’s eyes had drifted to the window, tracking the last of the fading light with the same grave attention he gave everything. Franz watched him look.

He thought: next week he would finally see it for himself. The city she had built a life in. The woman she had become before she came back to him.

So he had waited. The way he had always, without quite knowing it, waited.