All Chapters of Guilty Pleasure #2: Chapter 101 - Chapter 109

The air in the living room was thick enough to choke on. The bag slipped from Elena’s fingers with a hollow thud against the polished floor, she stood frozen just inside the doorway, her mind refusing to process the scene before her. The world had tilted on its axis, and the floor felt unsteady beneath her feet.Her father. Avonlea. Together.It wasn’t just that they were in the same room, it was the way they were, the closeness, the startled expressions painted across both faces when they looked up and realized she was standing there. Avonlea was half-sprawled against Enric’s side, her head resting on his shoulder. His arm was wrapped around her, his fingers absently tracing circles on her upper arm. Their bodies were angled toward each other in an intimate, familiar curve that spoke of a habit formed over time, not a sudden, spontaneous moment.Elena’s lips parted soundlessly. She tried to breathe, but her chest was so tight it felt as if invisible fingers were clawing around her lu

Two weeks slipped by in a blur of numb days and restless nights.  For Elena, life had become a monotonous cycle of attending classes in a daze, avoiding Avonlea’s persistent, wounded glances, and returning to the cold, silent expanse of Ryan’s penthouse. Her dorm application was still processing. Elena felt like she was living in a bubble where everything was muffled.  Her days were punctuated by calls from Ryan, each one shorter and more strained than the last. The updates on his father were a slow, agonizing descent. His voice, once a source of such potent strength, had become a hollow echo of defeat. She’d pour all her energy into those calls, trying to be his lifeline, her own problems feeling trivial in the face of his impending loss. She was

A month had passed. Time had moved forward, but grief had not been erased. It lingered like a stubborn shadow that refused to let go, hanging over Ryan and Anna’s home with a heavy silence that never seemed to fully lift.  Ryan had settled into a routine, spending his days at the Johnson estate with his mother. He managed business from there, balancing conference calls, paperwork, and the constant pressure of keeping the empire steady, while simultaneously keeping watch over Anna. Anna herself was trying, but her health had not been steady since his father’s passing. Some days were better than others. On the better days, she would sit in the garden, pretending to read a book while the sunlight touched her tired face. On the harder ones, she would stay in bed, fragile and silent, leaving Ryan restless and on edge.

The silence in the car as they drove away from her father’s house was different from the furious tension of the afternoon. Elena leaned her head against the cool window, watching the familiar streets of her old neighborhood blur past. Her hand rested loosely in Ryan’s, their fingers entwined as if neither wanted to let go.  Ryan glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “You’re quiet, butterfly. What’s running in that pretty head of yours?” She turned to look at him, her lips twitching into a small smile. “Just everything. Tonight, my dad, Avonlea, us. It feels like my life is changing so quickly.” “It is,” he admitted simply, his voice steady, “but not for the worse. Change isn’t always bad.&rdquo