Все главы Silenced Bride, Relentless Love: Глава 81 - Глава 90

The morning should have ended peacefully.Instead, it turned into an argument over rain boots.Emma insisted she needed to wear the bright yellow boots everywhere now because they made her “faster emotionally,” whatever that meant.Ava said absolutely not because the weather was dry and they were going to lunch with Vivian later.Emma reacted like somebody personally betrayed by democracy.“You never support my dreams,” she declared dramatically from the middle of the living room floor.Adrian looked up from his laptop immediately. “That feels manipulative.”“It is working,” Emma informed him calmly.Ava crossed her arms. “Do not encourage this behavior.”“I am observing advanced negotiation tactics.”“You are her father.”“Yes. Unfortunately I see myself in this situation.”Emma pointed toward him triumphantly. “Papa understands me.”“That is because your father also enjoys being difficult,” Ava replied.Adrian closed the laptop slowly. “I feel attacked in my own house.”Mrs. Holt pa

The comment from Emma stayed with Ava longer than she expected.Now you smile when she talks.Such a small observation.Simple.Childish even.But somehow it exposed years of emotional distance in one sentence.Because Emma was right.For a long time, Adrian listened to Ava the way people listened to background music. Present physically, distracted mentally. Not cruel. Just elsewhere.And Ava adapted to that eventually.She stopped expecting full attention.Stopped expecting emotional reactions.Stopped expecting softness.Now every little change felt enormous because she remembered the absence so clearly.Dinner that night happened later than usual after Emma insisted on helping Mrs. Holt set the table. Unfortunately, “helping” mostly involved placing forks in mathematically impossible positions and emotionally arguing with napkins.Adrian fixed the silverware quietly while Ava watched from the kitchen doorway trying not to smile.“You are doing it wrong,” Emma informed him seriously

The happiness scared her most in the morning.Not during the soft conversations at night.Not during quiet moments when Adrian looked at her like she mattered.Morning was worse.Because daylight made everything feel real again.Ava stood alone in the kitchen around seven thirty holding a coffee mug while sunlight spread slowly across the marble counters.The house remained quiet.Too quiet.Emma still slept upstairs after yesterday’s emotional warfare involving blanket forts and pancakes. Mrs. Holt had apparently gone grocery shopping early.Which left Ava alone with her thoughts.Dangerous situation honestly.She leaned against the counter and stared absentmindedly out the windows toward the garden.Happy.The word still felt unfamiliar in this house.Not impossible.Just fragile.Like something beautiful that could disappear if touched too carelessly.A soft voice behind her interrupted the spiral.“You are doing the thinking face again.”Ava turned slightly.Adrian walked into the

The next week brought the first real argument they had in a while.Not explosive.Not dramatic.Honestly, that was what made it worse.Ava noticed something was wrong Thursday evening when Adrian arrived home nearly three hours later than expected without answering two of her messages.Normally she would have ignored it.Old habits.Years of teaching herself not to demand too much attention from him.But lately things had changed between them, and somehow that made disappointment sharper now when old patterns resurfaced unexpectedly.By the time the front door finally opened, Emma was already asleep upstairs and Ava sat alone in the living room pretending to read a book she had not processed a single sentence of.Adrian stepped inside loosening his tie with visible exhaustion.The second he saw her sitting there, relief crossed his face automatically.Then he noticed the untouched tea on the table.And the silence.His expression shifted immediately.“Ava.”“You are late.”Simple sent

The following Saturday began with complete chaos.Which, strangely enough, had become normal.Ava woke to the unmistakable sound of somebody running through the hallway followed by loud whispering.The kind of whispering children used when they believed lowering their voice automatically made them invisible.She opened one eye slowly.The clock beside the bed read seven twelve.Far too early for whatever nonsense was currently happening.Beside her, Adrian groaned softly into his pillow.“Tell me that is not our child.”“It is definitely our child.”Another series of hurried footsteps raced past the bedroom door.Then silence.Then more whispering.Then a loud crash.Ava closed her eyes again.“Nope.”“Agreed.”Neither moved.A few seconds later the bedroom door burst open dramatically.“Mama!”Ava immediately buried her face against the pillow.“No.”“Mama!”“Still no.”Emma climbed directly onto the bed anyway because apparently boundaries remained theoretical concepts.Adrian lifte