Semua Bab The Billionaire's Secret Bride : Bab 171 - Bab 179

Mia noticed the box while coming in.Brown and large. Sitting quietly by the door, as if it had been placed there gently.Mia balanced the grocery bag on her hip and frowned at it.“What is this again?” she muttered to herself.She nudged it with the side of her leg.The box didn’t move.“Why is it heavy like this?” she hissed, dropping the bag to the floor.She bent, pressed both palms against it, and tried pushing.It barely shifted.“Jesus.”She straightened and looked up and down the hallway as if someone might suddenly claim it.She crouched again, slid her fingers underneath, and lifted.“Ah—” It was heavier than she expected. She carried it inside, her slippers scuffing against the tiles, and dropped it in the middle of the living room with a thud.Aria’s voice drifted from the kitchen. “Mia? Is that you?”“Yes. And you need to come and see something.”There was a pause. The sound of running water stops. Then footsteps.Aria walked in wiping her hands on a small towel. Her hair

It's been three days.Three full days since he stood at her door like a stranger asking permission to breathe the same air as his children.Aria told herself she did not think about it. She folded tiny socks. She packed lunchboxes. She braided Lily’s hair and pretended her hands were not shaking.Mia had not come home. She was on a night shift. The house felt bigger without her voice filling it.“Allen, shoes,” Aria called from the hallway.“They are on,” Allen answered.“They are not tied.”A pause. “I can’t tie them.”She stepped into the living room. Evan was chasing Lily with a half-eaten slice of bread. Crumbs everywhere. Chaos, warm and loud and alive. The only thing in her life she had never regretted.“Evan,” she said quietly.He stopped mid-run. He always did when she used that tone. “Sorry, Mama.”She knelt in front of him and wiped the corner of his mouth with her thumb. “You do not run with food.”He nodded, eyes wide and solemn in a way that always undid her.Allen emerge

The mall was louder than Aria expected for a weekday afternoon.Voices drifted through the wide corridors—children laughing, shopping bags rustling, the distant hum of music from somewhere overhead. The place smelled faintly of caramel popcorn and perfume samples.Aria stood near the entrance for a moment, one hand curled around Lily’s small fingers while the boys ran ahead toward the escalator.“Allen, slow down,” she called.Allen turned around while still walking backward. “We are not running.”“You are absolutely running.”Evan tugged his brother’s sleeve. “Come on. Daddy said we can pick toys.”Aria’s gaze shifted toward Liam.He stood a few steps behind them, keys in one hand, watching the chaos with an expression that was part amusement and part something softer. Something almost disbelieving.Like he still couldn’t believe he was allowed to be here.When he noticed her looking, he straightened slightly.“Too much?” he asked.“For them?” Aria glanced at the boys, who were now a

The house had finally gone quiet.It didn’t happen all at once.First, the boys’ laughter faded down the hallway after Mia herded them toward their room with the promise of a movie night. Then Lily’s sleepy protests drifted through the door before dissolving into silence.Now only the faint hum of the refrigerator filled the apartment.Aria stood at the kitchen sink, rinsing the last cup.Her fingers moved slowly over the porcelain, mind somewhere far away. The warm water curled around her wrists, steam rising gently into the dim kitchen light.Behind her, Liam lingered near the doorway.He had offered to leave twice.She hadn’t answered either time.The quiet between them stretched, thick with all the years that had passed… and everything that had changed in the last few months.Aria set the cup into the rack.The small clink echoed softly.“You don’t have to stand there like a stranger,” she said without turning.A breath left Liam’s chest.“I’m trying to respect boundaries.”“You’v