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

Chapter 421: For Five Years

For three days, Arianne left early and returned late.

She would slip out of the hotel suite before the twins were awake, dressed in the sharp, tailored clothes she wore when she had business to conduct. She would kiss Franz goodbye: a brief press of lips, a murmured instruction about Lexx’s feeding schedule, and then she would be gone, swallowed by the city she had once called home. In the evenings, she returned after the twins were already in bed, her face tired but satisfied, the way it always looked after a productive day of work.

In between, she video-called.

The calls came at unpredictable intervals: mid-morning, late afternoon, one afternoon during what must have been her lunch break. She would appear on Franz’s phone screen, her face a little pixelated, and ask how Lexx was doing. How the twins were. Whether anyone had slept. Whether anyone had cried.

"He cried twice this morning," Franz reported on the first day, angling the phone so she could see Lexx asleep on his chest. "But he calmed down when I held him. I think he knows you’re gone."

"He knows my scent. He’s used to me being there."

"He’s used to both of us being there. He just prefers you."

"As he should."

Franz smiled. "How’s the work?"

"Productive. We’re making progress on the negotiations. I’ll tell you about it when I get back."

"I’ll be here. Probably still on this couch. He won’t let me put him down."

"Good. You’re learning."

"I’m being held hostage by a two-month-old."

"That’s parenthood."

The calls never lasted long: five minutes, sometimes ten. But they were enough. A thread connecting her to them, even as she moved through the corridors of Mythos Group.

The twins had adapted to the hotel suite with the resilience of children who had learned to make themselves at home anywhere. They had spread their new activity books across the coffee table, and the floor around them was littered with colored pencils and half-finished drawings. Lily was working on a detailed portrait of the penguin exhibit from the zoo. Leo was coloring a whale: blue, naturally, with the focused attention he brought to all his artistic work.

"This one’s for Lexx," Lily said, holding up her drawing. It showed a penguin, a little lopsided, standing next to a smaller penguin that was presumably its baby. "It’s Mr. Penguin and his son. So Lexx knows his doll has a family too."

"That’s very thoughtful," Franz said from the couch, where he was once again pinned beneath a sleeping baby.

"Mr. Penguin needs a backstory. All important dolls have backstories."

"Where did you learn about backstories?"

"Uncle Franz talks about them. For his characters. On TV."

Franz made a mental note to be more careful about what he said within earshot of Lily.

Sam called on the second day.

Franz answered with his free hand, the other arm still cradling Lexx against his chest. Sam’s face appeared on the screen, her hair pulled back, her expression bright. "How’s Rohan? How’s the baby? How’s Arianne?"

"Rohan is good. The baby is asleep. Arianne is working."

"You sound tired."

"I’m holding a baby. I’m always tired."

"Gilbert wants to know if you’ve seen the news. The agency registration went through. Daryll’s been sending you emails."

"I saw. I haven’t had time to respond."

"Respond when you can. We’re all just sitting here being impressed by you." Sam paused. "Is Arianne okay? She’s been working a lot."

"She’s fine. This is important to her."

"And you’re okay with that? Her working while you’re on vacation?"

"It’s not a vacation. It’s a family trip. And she’s working because she needs to. I’m not going to stop her."

Sam nodded. "You’re very supportive. It’s a little annoying."

"I try."

Gilbert appeared over Sam’s shoulder, his face crowding into the frame. "Tell Arianne we said hello. And tell Lexx his Uncle Gilbert expects him to be walking by the time you get back."

"He’s two months old."

"Then he has a lot of work to do."

The call ended with promises to check in again, and Franz settled back against the couch cushions. The television was playing a Rohan drama: something with elaborate costumes and subtitles he could only half follow. He found himself watching anyway, drawn in by the different rhythms of the storytelling, the unfamiliar camera angles, the way the actors expressed emotion with gestures he’d never seen in Western media.

It was strange, being here. In the city where Arianne had hidden for five years. He kept looking at the streets below their window and wondering which ones she had walked. Which restaurants she had eaten in. Which buildings she had entered as one person and left as another.

He was learning, piece by piece, who she had been during those years. But he was here now. She was letting him in. That was enough.

On the third day, with Lexx asleep on his chest and the television murmuring in low Rohan, Franz asked Aunt Estella the question that had been circling in his mind since they arrived.

"What was it like? After you left Montclair. After the engagement ended. What was she like?"

Aunt Estella was seated in the armchair near the window, a cup of tea cooling on the side table. She didn’t answer immediately. Her eyes drifted to the city skyline beyond the glass, and Franz saw something move across her face: something old and heavy and long carried.

"At first," she said, "I thought I’d lost her."

Franz waited.

"She wouldn’t leave her room. For weeks. She wouldn’t turn on her phone or her laptop. She wouldn’t even turn on the television: she didn’t want to know what was happening in the world. She just stayed in that room, with the curtains drawn, and I could hear her crying at night. Silently. She thought Gio and I were asleep, but I heard her."

Franz’s hand moved to Lexx’s back, a slow, rhythmic motion. "How long did it last?"

"Months. Before she would come out and sit with us at the dining table. And even then, her eyes—" Aunt Estella paused. "Her eyes were empty. The same emptiness I saw after her mother died. I thought she’d healed from that, you know. After she met Alex. After she found her circle of friends. I thought those wounds had closed. But Dominic—he opened them again. All of them."

"What finally brought her out?"

"Work." Aunt Estella’s voice was dry, but not unkind. "She threw herself into it. She’d been involved with Mythos Group before: a side project, something she did in her spare time. But when we came here, it became her whole life. She would leave early and come back late, the way she’s doing now. She barely slept. She barely ate. But she was moving. She was functioning. That was more than she’d been doing before."

Franz thought about Arianne now: the way she moved through the world with such controlled precision, the way she held herself together even when everything was falling apart. He had always admired her strength. He hadn’t understood, until now, how much it had cost her.

"When did it start to get better?"

"After about two years. The scandal faded from the headlines. People stopped talking about the engagement. Dominic got married, had his son. And Arianne: she started checking the news again. Reading about what was happening in Montclair. She never commented on Dominic’s wedding. Not a word. But when the news of the twins’ birth reached us—" Aunt Estella’s face softened. "A weak smile. The first one I’d seen in years."

"She called Alex," Franz said.

"Yes. That was the first time she reached out to anyone from her old life. They talked for three hours. Alex was so happy. Layla joined them later. And before she hung up, Alex made her promise she would keep in touch. He told her he would make preparations if she ever wanted to come back."

Franz nodded. "That sounds like Alex."

"He was always looking out for her. Even when she didn’t want to be looked out for."

"And when Alex and Layla died?"

Aunt Estella was silent for a long moment. "I thought it would break her. I thought, after everything: after her mother, after Dominic, after years of rebuilding, this would be the thing that finally destroyed her. She was devastated. We all were. But she asked Gio to arrange her travel. She canceled all her appointments. And she went back." Aunt Estella looked at Franz. "I was so afraid she would lose herself again. But she didn’t. The twins helped her. And you—" She paused. "You helped her too. More than you know."

Franz looked down at Lexx, asleep on his chest. His tiny face was peaceful, his fingers curled against the fabric of Franz’s shirt. "I wasn’t there for her. When she needed help the most. When the engagement ended: she was already gone by the time I heard. I thought I’d lost her forever. I thought our paths would never cross again."

"But they did."

"Yes. They did."

He was silent, his hand moving in slow circles on Lexx’s back. The television flickered. The twins were coloring at the coffee table, their voices a low murmur.

"I should have reached out," he said. "I should have found a way."

"You couldn’t have," Aunt Estella said. "She wouldn’t have let you. She wasn’t ready. She needed to heal on her own terms, in her own time. And she did."

Franz nodded, but the regret lingered.

Aunt Estella rose from her chair. She crossed to him and placed her hand on his shoulder: a brief, warm pressure. "You’re here now. That’s what matters. You’re here, and she’s letting you in, and that’s more than she’s ever done for anyone except Alex."

She straightened and glanced toward the kitchen. "I should start preparing dinner early tonight. We have guests coming."

Franz looked up. "Guests? Arianne didn’t mention anything this morning."

"She probably forgot. Or she wanted it to be a surprise." Aunt Estella paused. "The CEO of Mythos Group is coming to dinner. To meet you. To meet the family."

Franz stared at her. "The CEO of Mythos Group is coming here? Tonight?"

"Yes. So I need to start cooking." She smiled: a small, knowing smile. "Don’t look so worried. He’s an old friend of Arianne’s. You’ll like him."

She disappeared into the kitchen before Franz could ask any more questions.

He sat on the couch, Lexx asleep on his chest, the television murmuring. The CEO of Mythos Group. The connection Arianne had kept from him for years. Coming to dinner. Tonight.

He looked down at his son. "Your mother," he said, "is full of surprises."

Lexx slept on, undisturbed.