Arianne wasn’t expecting to see Alex’s children when the door opened.
She paused for a mont before her composure returned, her eyes moving from Samantha to the two young children beside her. Lily held Leo’s hand tightly, her expression nervous. anwhile, Leo clutched an envelope against his chest as if his life depended on it.
"This is unexpected, Sam," Arianne comnted.
Samantha forced a smile. "They asked very nicely. How could I possibly decline?"
Arianne stepped aside to let them in. Three days ago, she and Aunt Estella had moved to one of the vacant villas owned by the Pembertons. Gilbert finally convinced Arianne to move for her safety.
At least in this place, Dominic couldn’t easily reach her.
Aunt Estella, who had been busy arranging flowers, looked up at the sound of voices. She gave Arianne a look of confusion as she hadn’t expected guests to arrive that day.
"Aunt Estella, you might not recognize these two since it’s been years since we last t them." Arianne started before pointing to the twins, "These are Alex and Layla’s kids."
Aunt Estella set the shears aside and removed her gloves. She then strode towards the children and gave them a good look.
"It might be the first ti for you to see , but we’ve t before. You were too young back then, so you might not rember." She smiled warmly at the twins.
"So why did you bring them here, Sam?" Arianne asked as she took a seat on the couch, ignoring the docunts she’d been reading before their arrival.
"Did Franz and their grandparents know you brought the twins with you?"
"Of course, Aria. Do you think I would sneak them out of their residence without permission?" Samantha replied, pouting a little. "It’s just that it was hard to say no to them."
Arianne raised a slender brow. These children were still young, but it seed they were already aware of their prowess.
Another trait they got from their father. They knew how to turn the situation to their advantage.
Leo stepped forward and handed Arianne a bag of cookies before returning to his sister’s side.
Arianne looked at the cookies in her hand. It reminded her of the ti when Layla kept putting a bag of cookies in her school bag whenever she wasn’t looking.
"Alex ntioned you frequently skipped als, Aria," Layla said when Arianne asked her about it.
"Aunt Aria, can we talk about sothing with you?" Lily’s words sounded nervous.
Arianne blinked. Then slowly, she nodded. "All right. What is it about?"
Leo pulled out the papers he and his sister had worked on the other day. Lily took the docunts from him and revealed their presentation. The first page featured the title in bold.
Arianne’s eyes widened. Samantha and Aunt Estella gasped at the sa ti.
Lily took in a deep breath as she said, "Please marry our Uncle Franz!"
Leo hurriedly wrote on his board: "We’ll help you destroy your evil ex!"
Silence followed.
Arianne did not laugh or react at all.
Samantha’s complexion turned pale.
"I swear, Aria! I didn’t know about their plan!"
Under different circumstances, she might have laughed. However, given how precarious their situation was right now, proposing such a plan could create more problems for Arianne.
The next page revealed the problem statent.
Problem 1 showed a photo of burned popcorn with a subtext: Uncle Franz cannot cook a decent al.
"Uncle always burns food whenever we stay in his place," Lily stated, before moving to the next page.
A cutout image of a tabloid headline doubting Franz’s leadership was revealed.
Problem 2 had a description: "Rochefort Group is unstable. The board is an!"
Arianne noticed a hand-drawn angry emoji after the statent.
The following slide presented a photo of Arianne from a business magazine. It also read: Asset: You are a capable CEO. You fix problems.
The last one showed up clippings from the gossip sites about Arianne’s humiliation.
"You need to fix your na. You need... help." Lily tried to reason out while Leo nodded beside her.
When Arianne remained silent, Lily continued, "You are currently Uncle’s consultant."
"Yes, I am," Arianne nodded, unsurprised. "That is correct."
"But consultants are temporary," Lily continued. "They help, and then they leave."
Arianne tilted her head slightly; her expression remained neutral. "Not always."
"But they can," Lily insisted. "Which ans you might."
Arianne paused. Talking to little Lily made her feel as if she were arguing with Alex again. She considered correcting the young girl’s logic, but stopped herself.
"Can you explain why you consider that a problem?" she asked instead.
Leo raised his board, on which he had written in careful letters: "Everyone would be sad!"
Arianne did not interrupt. She didn’t have an answer for that.
"What is it that you propose then?"
"You marry our Uncle Franz. You beco our guardian. You run Rochefort Group with him. In return, you can get the Rochefort na to repair your reputation. We will be a family..." she trailed off. "We will be your family."
Seeing Arianne remain calm, Lily’s confidence slightly wavered.
The next slide appeared.
ADVANTAGES
Arianne read silently.
Rich.
Capable.
Will not cheat. (Unlike your ex.)
Can protect you.
The most handso.
"...I see you’ve done your research," Arianne said dryly.
Leo nodded enthusiastically. Unlike his sister, he seed confident Arianne would agree.
"We assud you would want what is best." Lily hesitated.
Arianne did not correct that assumption.
The slide changed again, showing the risk assessnt.
Franz is sotis on big screens.
Too many people are watching.
Rumors.
Attention.
Arianne cupped her chin. Franz used a pseudonym as a celebrity, and few knew he was Alexander Rochefort’s younger brother.
"That," she said quietly, "is a valid concern."
Lily held her breath in anticipation.
"How did you arrive at this conclusion?" ca Arianne’s question.
"Because Daddy said you are capable!" The young girl answered, "Daddy said if he were in a big, big fight, he’d want you in his team! Uncle Franz is in a big fight with work papers. So he needs you."
Arianne said nothing, allowing Lily to continue her argunt.
"You are better at running companies. Uncle almost cried yesterday. The papers tire him, and his head hurts. And we need you too. Uncle burns food. Really, really bad. And Leo has bad dreams, and I don’t know how to make them go away."
Lily quivered, her eyes misting.
Their presentation ended.
No applause or question followed.
No one spoke.
Arianne glanced at the stack of paper the twins presented. She imagined the ti and effort they had put into it.
One particular slide caught her eye. It was a crumpled drawing. A stick figure of a woman holding hands with two small stick figures, with a smiling sun overhead.
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