Not long after Liora called Elodie, the car Dante had sent arrived at the Miller house.
In the end, Liora didn’t wait for Elodie to co back.
She grabbed her things, climbed into the car, and left.
—
When they arrived at the private room, Liora’s face lit up the mont she saw them.
"Daddy! Aunt Sienna!"
She threw herself into their arms without hesitation.
Dante smiled and ruffled her hair gently. Sienna took her schoolbag and set it aside, her expression warm and affectionate.
The private room wasn’t empty. Harry, Levi, and Sophia were already there, seated around the table.
Levi watched the whole reunion with an amused grin.
"Dante, I told you, you should’ve just taken Liora abroad with you," he said, shaking his head. "Look at her. It’s only been a few days, and she’s already missed you both this much. If you’d waited any longer, she probably would’ve cried."
The way he said it made it sound like Liora had been suffering. Like she’d been neglected or mistreated while staying with Elodie.
Harry’s expression shifted slightly, but he didn’t say anything right away.
Before Dante could respond, Harry changed the subject smoothly.
"Did you go out and do anything fun these past few days, Liora?"
Liora sat down and nodded. "Yeah. Mom took to see a movie. We played so VR gas at the arcade. And we had dinner out too."
Levi raised an eyebrow. "That’s it?"
Liora shrugged, completely unbothered. "That’s it. Mom was really busy, so she didn’t have a lot of ti to spend with ."
Levi assud she was talking about the usual New Year chaos, family obligations, social events, the type of thing he and Harry had been drowning in for weeks.
After all, they’d been running around nonstop since the end of last year.
These past few days were the first ti they’d had a chance to actually sit down, relax, and have a proper al together.
Sienna, sitting beside Dante, was quietly reading a book.
Liora, bored, took a sip of her drink and started flipping through the book sitting in front of her on the table.
She glanced at the cover, and sothing about it seed familiar.
She looked again, her brows furrowing slightly.
Harry noticed. "Liora, are you interested in that kind of book?"
Liora shook her head. "No. I just realized my mom has the sa one."
Sienna froze.
Just for a second.
Then a faint smile tugged at her lips.
The cover of this book was identical for both the beginner and advanced versions. But this one, the one sitting in front of Liora right now, was the advanced version.
Not even most undergrad students touched material this dense. Sienna herself hadn’t encountered content this complex until she was pursuing her PhD.
She’d been studying intensely recently, and Sophia had been visiting often, so Sienna knew the book ca in two versions.
When Liora ntioned it, Sienna’s first thought was obvious.
Elodie must be reading the beginner version.
She almost laughed out loud but managed to hold it back, barely, because Dante and Harry were sitting right there.
Still, the amusent flickered in her eyes.
Harry caught it imdiately.
He glanced at Sienna, then at the book, then back at Liora.
His expression didn’t change, but sothing cold settled in his chest.
He understood exactly what Sienna was thinking.
Hearing what Liora said, Harry lowered his head and smiled faintly, but he didn’t say anything.
At that mont, Levi seed to rember sothing. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Harry with a mischievous grin.
"Harry, I heard your mom’s been trying to set you up with blind dates these past few days. So, how’s it going? Find anyone suitable?"
The question imdiately drew everyone’s attention.
Sophia had heard about it too. That’s exactly why she’d been on edge lately.
She stared at Harry nervously, her hands clenched in her lap.
Harry, however, didn’t even glance her way. He just looked at Levi with a flat, unamused expression.
"Do you ever get tired of gossiping?"
Levi laughed. "I’m just curious."
Harry didn’t respond.
His silence said everything. It was obvious he had no interest in the blind dates his mother kept arranging.
Everyone understood.
But Levi, being Levi, couldn’t leave it alone.
"By the way," he continued, leaning back in his chair, "how are things going with that ’aunt’ of Daisy’s? You know, the one she keeps talking about. Since you clearly like her, why don’t you just tell your mom? Or is it that her background’s too different from yours, and you’re worried your mom won’t approve, so—"
Harry cut him off sharply. "Can’t you keep quiet with all this food in front of you?"
But the more Harry tried to shut him down, the more curious Levi beca.
"Look," Levi said, ignoring the warning tone in Harry’s voice, "if you’re worried your mom won’t approve, fine. You haven’t brought her ho yet. But it’s been so long now. You could at least let and Dante et her, right?"
He glanced over at Dante with a grin. "What do you think, Dante?"
Dante smiled faintly, his tone diplomatic. "When the ti is right, I’m sure Harry won’t need any encouragent from us to bring her around. Let’s not ddle."
Levi groaned.
Everyone knew that.
He was just curious.
Sophia tugged nervously on Sienna’s sleeve. "Sis..."
Before, Levi had told her that Harry already had soone he liked, just to discourage her from pursuing him.
At the ti, she hadn’t believed it.
But now it seed like it might actually be true.
Sienna gave a faint smile, her expression calm and unreadable, but she didn’t say anything.
The fact that Daisy had an "aunt" they hadn’t t was definitely real.
But...
Did Harry really care that much about this woman? Or was it possible that Daisy’s so-called "aunt" was just a convenient shield? Maybe Harry had set the whole thing up just to throw people off. To keep them from knowing who he really liked.
Sienna’s mind turned over the possibilities, but her face stayed perfectly composed.
Halfway through the al, Levi suddenly seed to rember sothing. He set down his chopsticks and turned to Sienna.
"By the way, Cole’s expanding their recruitnt right now. Have you thought about giving it another shot?"
Sienna had been abroad recently, but she’d already heard about Cole’s expansion through the grapevine.
Honestly? She was tempted.
Cole’s technology was cutting-edge. Joining them would be a major boost to her career. A stepping stone she couldn’t ignore.
But...
There was still the issue of Elodie.
Sienna hesitated, her expression thoughtful, when Levi smiled and continued.
"I ran into a friend yesterday who ntioned sothing interesting. Apparently, Johnny’s not just recruiting technical staff, he’s also reaching out to people on the managent side."
He paused, letting that sink in.
"And from what I’ve heard, Johnny hasn’t reserved any managent positions for her."
That "her" was obviously Elodie.
The internal expansion at Cole, combined with restructuring, should’ve been the perfect opportunity to arrange a formal leadership position for Elodie.
But Johnny hadn’t done that.
Which could an one of two things.
Either Johnny was still clear-headed and wasn’t letting Elodie have her way.
Or their relationship had already hit a rough patch.
Either way, if Elodie didn’t secure a managent position at Cole, her influence there would definitely take a hit.
And if Sienna was thinking about joining Cole now? This could be the perfect ti.
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