LOGINAnd then it was just us. Our family. I picked up Arianna while Tristan got Adrian, and we carried them upstairs to their nursery. The room had been redecorated twice as they'd grown—first to accommodate their crawling, then again when they started pulling up on furniture. Now it was a mix of cribs
Chapter 214 Athena I looked at Adrian in my arms, then at Arianna in Tristan's. They'd grown so much—both walking now (well, Arianna walked, Adrian preferred to crawl at high speed). Both babbling constantly in their own twin language that we couldn't quite decipher. Both showing more personality
Chapter 213 Athena The backyard was full of chaos—the beautiful, loud, messy kind of chaos that came from having a joint first birthday party for twins. I stood on the back porch, watching the scene unfold before me with a smile that felt permanently fixed on my face. Colorful balloons bobbed
Chapter 212 "Mama's sorry," I soothed, bouncing her gently. "But we need to figure this out before you touch any more plants, okay?" "Can I see?" Lily asked, pushing past the adults to get closer to the plant. "Wow, it's so pretty! And it smells good too." She was right. The plant was giving off
Chapter 211 Athena "The plant," I said, knowing I wasn't making sense but unable to form coherent thoughts. "The dying plant in the living room. She touched it. Tristan, she touched it and it came back to life." Silence. All three men just stared at me. "What?" Orion finally asked. "The plant
Chapter 210 Athena Six months. Six months since Adrian and Arianna had come home from the NICU, and I still sometimes woke up in the middle of the night to check that they were breathing. The monitors helped, their steady beeping had become the soundtrack of our lives, but the fear never comple
Chapter 46 I could hear Tristan calling after me, his long strides echoing in the hospital corridor as he tried to catch up. "Athena!" His voice carried that commanding tone he used when he expected people to listen. I didn't stop. I kept walking, faster now, my heels clicking against the polish
The knowledge that I'd pushed her toward that fate made me sick. If I hadn't walked away that night, if I'd been brave enough to admit how I felt about her, would she have stayed? Would she have been safe? The questions haunted me, especially in the dark hours before dawn when my defenses were weak
Chapter 53 Tristan's POV I woke up drenched in sweat, my heart hammering against my ribs like it was trying to escape. The same nightmare that had been chasing me for months was back with a vengeance. It had disappeared for a while, giving me hope that maybe I was finally healing, but tonight
Chapter 51 "Ath..." The pain in Orion's voice hit me like a physical blow. I could see my words were hurting him, but I couldn't take them back. They were true, even if they stung. I couldn't face those sweet, innocent children while I was barely holding myself together. I couldn't be the aunt t







