The ne incident shed through my mind instantly.


    I shouldn’t have obeyed as easily as I did.


    The second I sat, he leaned slightly into me. His cologne hit first. Fresh, woody, and far too addictive. He didn’t say anything at first. Just sat back, sipping whiskey like the world owed him nothing and he had everything.


    Laughter echoed as cousins teased one another, trading old stories like priceless currency. The conversation moved around us like a breeze. I tried to focus on Jay’s animated retelling of the time he and Sophia got grounded for sneaking out to a party and ended up crashing their father’s favorite car.


    Then I felt it.


    Liam’s fingers casually slid onto my thigh under the table.


    A quick squeeze.


    He didn’t look at me. Didn’t smirk. Just kept sipping his drink like he wasn’t currently setting my nerve endings on fire.


    I bit the inside of my cheek and stared at Jay’s gesturing hands. Breathe, Emil, You are not the type to fall apart over a thigh squeeze. And yet…


    Another squeeze. Firmer this time. Still no expression from him. The game he was ying? Completely silent. Wickedly effective.


    “I hate you,” I muttered under my breath.


    “Do you?” he said, barely audible, not even turning his head.


    Before I could respond, Sophia nudged me. “Oh look, Aunt Mel finally made it.”


    I turned just in time to see Oliver’s wife, Melissa, glide in with the kind of grace only CEOs and ice queens seem to possess. Her white jumpsuit hugged her tall frame, hair slicked back, red lips sharp enough to cut ss.


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    “Sorry, darlings,” she announced to no one in particr. “Board meeting ran long.”


    “Priorities,” Jay teased. “We forgive you.”


    The parents didn’t linger. As if on cue, they raised their sses, made vague jokes about “letting the young ones have their fun,” and disappeared deeper into the estate. <fn1e9c> ?????? ???? FindN0vel</fn1e9c>


    “Finally,” Sophia whispered beside me. “Now we can actually be ourselves.”


    I leaned in. “Can I ask you something?”


    Her brows lifted. “When you ask like that, how can I say no?”


    “What’s up with Liam and Kelvin? I mean, the tension…”


    She sighed. “Ugh. That old drama. It was about a girl. Or girls. I never got the full story. They had been inseparable once, until Uncle Oliver moved to the London office. After that, things were never quite the same.


    “Did they fight?”


    She shrugged. “Not a screaming match. More like a silent fracture. You know the type. No one talks about it, but it’s always there.”


    I nced toward the two of them. Kelvin was now seated,ughing with Owen, while Liam remained cool beside me, expression unreadable. A part of me itched to dig deeper, but the look on Sophia’s face said: Drop it. For now.


    Jay suddenly stood and raised his ss. “Alright, people. Enough sipping and sulking. We’re ying a game. Truth or Dare: Cousins Edition.”


    A few groans. Moreughter. Someone muttered, “This won’t end well.”


    We pushed the coffee tables aside to form a loose circle. Sophia plopped on the floor, dragging me down with her. Liam followed, of course, because of course he did.


    The questions started light. Leo admitted he’d kissed two different bridesmaids at the same wedding. Owen confessed he once forged a doctor’s note to skip Christmas dinner with an ex. Kelvin dared Jay to jump in the pool fully clothed. Jay looked ready to go for it, but Melissa’s sharp warning from the balcony grounded him fast.


    I wasughing. Genuinely. Liam still had his hand on my thigh, but I’d stopped trying to make sense of it. Let him y. I’d y too.


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    mind before you sleptst night?”


    I stiffened.


    Liam sipped from his ss, eyes fixed on me. “You already know the answer.”


    A few chuckles. Sophia smirked. My heart? mmed into my ribs.


    I looked away before anyone could read my


    face.


    Across the circle, Noah had remained mostly quiet, nursing a drink and watching the game with half–interest. I remembered that phone call earlier. The way his voice cracked. The way he tried to pretend he wasn’t unraveling.


    Just as he startedughing at one of Jay’s dares, looking like he might finally be letting go, a buzz sounded at the main gate.


    All heads snapped in the direction of the gate.


    A secondter, the vi staff opened the front doors.


    And she walked in.


    Linda.


    She was exactly what I expected. Tall, elegant, impossibly put together in a cream dress that looked like it belonged on a Mn runway.


    “LINDA!” Sophia jumped up with a squeal, arms outstretched. “You made it!”


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