Все главы Silenced Bride, Relentless Love: Глава 71 - Глава 80

Adrian did not come home early.To be fair, he tried.Ava knew he tried because he sent three separate messages throughout the afternoon updating her about delays, and the old Adrian would never have done that.Still, by eight thirty that evening, she was sitting cross-legged on the living room sofa eating noodles straight from the container while their daughter slept upstairs and the rain started again outside.Mrs. Holt walked through carrying folded laundry and gave her a look.“You are pouting.”“I am eating.”“You are aggressively eating.”Ava pointed chopsticks toward her. “There is a difference.”Mrs. Holt ignored that completely. “He called twice.”“Yes. Because apparently the world economy collapses if Adrian leaves an office before midnight.”“That sounds like pouting again.”Ava sighed and dropped back against the sofa cushions. “I know he is busy.”“But?”She stared at the ceiling for a second. “I think part of me got used to today before it even happened.”Mrs. Holt folde

Ava could not stop thinking about that conversation the next day.Not the emotional parts.Oddly enough, it was the smaller sentence that stayed with her.I do not want the careful version of you anymore.It followed her through breakfast, through getting their daughter dressed, through half a conversation with Vivian over the phone that she barely listened to.Because the truth was, she had been careful around Adrian for so long that sometimes she did not know where the habit ended and her actual personality began.That realization was uncomfortable.And honestly, a little sad.By noon, the rain from the previous night had finally cleared, leaving the estate washed in pale sunlight. Ava sat at the dining table pretending to review invitations for an upcoming charity gala while their daughter colored aggressively beside her.Every crayon somehow ended up on the floor.Every single one.“How are you physically dropping them behind you?” Ava asked in genuine confusion.Their daughter lo

Ava immediately regretted admitting the jealousy.Not because Adrian reacted badly.Unfortunately, the opposite.He looked entirely too pleased with himself afterward.“You need to stop smiling like that,” she muttered while walking toward the next section of the gallery.“I cannot help it.”“Yes, you can.”“No. I genuinely cannot.”Ava rolled her eyes and took another sip of champagne mostly to avoid looking at him directly.This was humiliating.She had spent years being the emotionally composed one in public, and now suddenly she was jealous over a woman touching Adrian’s arm beside abstract artwork that looked like emotional damage in color form.Wonderful.Adrian followed beside her, still visibly entertained. “For the record, Clara and I dated for approximately three weeks.”“That is still dating.”“She spent the entire relationship criticizing my schedule.”Ava looked at him flatly. “Well.”His mouth twitched slightly. “That sounds judgmental.”“That sounds deserved.”He laughe

They stayed on the terrace longer than either of them intended.At some point the city air turned colder, and Ava finally wrapped both arms around herself while staring down at the traffic below.Adrian noticed immediately.“You are freezing.”“I am surviving.”“That is not an answer.”“It is a dramatic answer.”He took off his coat before she realized what he was doing.Ava frowned instantly. “No. Absolutely not. You are already tired.”“I am not giving a presentation on the terrace, Ava. I will survive cold air.”Before she could argue again, he draped the coat carefully around her shoulders anyway.Warmth settled around her immediately.Not only from the coat.From him.And annoyingly enough, it made her chest tighten again.“You know,” she muttered while adjusting it, “sometimes I miss when you were emotionally repressed.”Adrian looked offended. “That feels cruel.”“You were easier to resist.”That one caught him off guard.Ava saw it happen in real time.His expression shifted s

Ava barely slept that night.Not because something dramatic happened.Honestly, that was the problem.Nothing dramatic happened.No huge confession.No emotional breakdown.No impossible romantic moment straight out of a movie.Just Adrian standing near the staircase looking at her like she mattered so deeply to him it physically scared him sometimes.And somehow that affected her more than grand gestures ever could.By two in the morning she was still awake staring at the ceiling while rain continued softly outside.Beside her, Adrian slept on his side facing her.Actually slept.Not passed out from exhaustion with a laptop nearby.Not half-working through midnight emails.Sleeping.Peacefully.Ava studied him quietly in the darkness.It still surprised her how much softer he looked asleep.Less controlled.Younger somehow.The tension he carried constantly during the day disappeared completely when he slept deeply enough.She should sleep too.Instead she kept thinking about the ter