LOGINI lean into him. "We really did start with a contract.""We did.""And now we have this.""Yeah. Now we have this."Maya cries out upstairs. Not scared. Just a dream. We both listen, waiting to see if she'll settle. She does. Back to sleep in seconds."I love you," Aiden says."I love you too.""I m
Taylor's POVThree years after the contract. Two years after the wedding. Eighteen months after Maya was born.It's a Tuesday night in October. Nothing special. Just a regular evening in the life we built.I'm in the kitchen making dinner. Maya is on the floor with her blocks, building something tha
The woman closed her notebook. "That's beautiful.""It's not beautiful. It's work. Really hard work. We still fight. We still build walls sometimes. We still have moments where we want to run because running is easier than staying. But we don't run. We stay. And we figure it out. That's the whole jo
Taylor's POVWe were at a foundation event two years after Maya was born when someone asked the question."How did you two make it work?" The woman was young, sharp-eyed, holding a notebook. A journalist, probably. Or a grad student writing a thesis. "You started with so much against you. The family
"Did it?" Kiera asked."No. We fell in love anyway. Threw out the contract after three months. Got married. Had her." He gestured to the baby monitor. "And now we're here.""That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard," Kiera said."It's not romantic. It's messy. We spent a year knocking down wal
Taylor's POVMaya's first birthday fell on a Saturday in October, eighteen months after the contract, fourteen months after the wedding, one year after she'd arrived and changed everything.We threw a party. Small. Just the people who'd earned their way to the table.My father arrived early, carryin
Taylor’s POVThe cafeteria hums with the soft clatter of trays and the smell of grilled chicken drifting through the air.,Sunlight filters through the high windows cutting sharp rectangles across the long tables.everyone’s halfway through their lunch break their voices overlapping in a low rhythmic
Taylor’s POVThe car hums beneath us a steady vibration that fills the silence.The afternoon sun filters through the trees painting gold streaks across the windshield.dust motes drift lazily in the warm light suspended like tiny memories refusing to settle.Aiden’s hands are steady on the wheel but
he keeps his gaze on the road. “you cant control what people believe.You cant make them see you.and once they decide you are the villain…”he trails off exhaling a humorless laugh. “you start to wonder if maybe they are right.”My heart twists. “Dont say that.”“Its the truth,” he says voice softer n
Taylor’s POV The room buzzes like a bee hive. My siblings crowd around Aiden shouting over one another tripping over excitement and each other. i half expect him to call for silence to shut it down with one sharp command the way he does in boardrooms press conferences or when he is commanding his







