Chapter 118
Liora didn’t want her mom to come down. She really didn’t.
If Elodie joined them, there would be tension. Awkwardness. The kind of heavy silence that would settle over a table like fog, making it hard to breathe. Her mom and Aunt Sienna in the same room never ended well, and Liora had learned, even without anyone ever telling her directly, that it was just easier when they stayed apart.
Sienna smiled warmly at her, her voice encouraging her. “Go ahead, sweetheart p>
Liora hesitated for just a moment longer, then turned and headed upstairs.
When she reached her mother’s door, she pressed the doorbell and waited, shifting her weight from foot to foot.
Inside, Elodie had already started eating. She glanced at the monitor in the living room and saw her daughter standing outside.
She set down her bowl and walked to the door, opening it with a gentle smile. “Liora p>
Liora bit her lip, looking up at her mom with wide, guilty eyes. “Dad told me to ask you to come downstairs and eat with us p>
Elodie’s smile didn’t falter. She shook her head lightly. “I’ve already started eating, sweetheart. You all go ahead p>
Relief flooded Liora’s face immediately. Her shoulders relaxed, and she nodded quickly. “Okay. I’ll tell Dad you’re eating p>
Elodie could see the relief, the eagerness to get back downstairs where the laughter and warmth were. Where Sienna was. She watched her daughter’s expression carefully, keeping her own face soft and unbothered.
“Mm. Go ahead,” she said quietly.
Liora smiled brightly and turned to leave. But after two steps, she paused, glancing back over her shoulder.
“Mom… are you sure you’re okay by yourself? Do you want me to stay with you p>
The offer hung in the air between them.
Liora’s tone was careful. Forced. Like she was saying the words because she thought she should, not because she wanted to. Her eyes kept darting back toward the stairs, toward the sound of voices and laughter drifting up from below.
Elodie could see it all so clearly. The guilt. The obligation. The part of her daughter that wanted to be a good girl, a good daughter but also wanted to be downstairs, where things were easier, where she didn’t have to navigate the minefield of her parents’ broken marriage.
And Elodie didn’t want that.
She didn’t need forced company. Didn’t need her daughter sitting with her out of pity or duty, watching the clock and wishing she were somewhere else.
She crouched down, her smile was soft and genuine, and touched Liora’s cheek gently. “It’s fine, baby. I actually like being alone sometimes. You go have fun p>
Liora’s guilt visibly melted away. Her smile returned, widely. “Okay! I’m going then p>
“Go ahead p>
Liora turned and bolted down the hallway.
Elodie stood there for a moment, watching her daughter disappear around the corner. Then she closed the door quietly and returned to her meal.
Downstairs, Liora ran up to Dante, slightly breathless. “Dad, Mom’s already eating, so she’s not coming down p>
Levi raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. Smart move, Elodie.
Harry looked down at his plate, his jaw tight, saying nothing.
Sienna’s lips curved into a subtle smile, satisfaction flickering in her eyes.
She’d known all along that Elodie wouldn’t come down. Why would she? No one here truly wanted her. And even if she had come down, all she would’ve gotten was cold stares and barely concealed contempt. Whispers behind hands. Levi’s sarcastic comments. Liora’s discomfort.
Better to stay upstairs. Better to hide.
Like a turtle retreating into its shell.
Sienna’s smile deepened.
Dante nodded once, his expression unreadable. “Alright. I understand p>
He didn’t push. Didn’t insist. Didn’t even glance toward the stairs.
He just turned to the others and said flatly, “Let’s eat. No need to wait p>
Sienna’s smile widened as she gracefully slid into the seat beside him, her hand brushing his arm briefly, just enough to stake her claim.
Levi watched the whole thing with thinly veiled amusement, lifting his glass in a silent toast.
Harry stared at his plate, his knuckles white where they gripped his fork.
After finishing her meal, Elodie cleared the dishes to the side and returned to her laptop. The screen glowed in the dim room, several lines of code and research notes filling the display.
Her phone buzzed and Johnny’s name lit up the screen.
“I’m home,” he said immediately. “Walk me through it again p>
Elodie launched into her explanation, her voice gaining momentum as she outlined the new ideas that had crystallized in her mind over the past hour. The connections she’d made. The potential applications. The way everything could fit together if they just follow some protocols.
“Oh my GOD!” Johnny’s voice exploded through the speaker, so loud that Elodie had to yank the phone away from her ear. “GENIUS! You are an absolute GENIUS in this field! I knew it! I knew you still had it p>
She could hear him pounding his desk on the other end in joy, the sound echoing through his apartment.
Then his voice shifted, dropping into something more bitter. “Seven years, Elodie. Seven years. If you hadn’t run off to get married, our company could’ve been world-famous by now. We could’ve been p>
He stopped himself.
There was a heavy pause, and Elodie could practically hear him wincing at his own words.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “That was… sorry. Let’s just focus on the work p>
Elodie’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t respond to the apology. What was there to say? He wasn’t wrong.
Johnny cleared his throat and pushed forward. “Alright. To pull this off, we can’t do it alone. We need the team p>
Within minutes, he was calling in the others, Simon and a few other colleagues from Cole Technologies. Johnny explained that while their expertise in AI wasn’t quite at his and Elodie’s level, they were solid. Competent. Eager.
And after Johnny walked them through the core concepts, their excitement became evident even through the screen.
They were all in.
Ideally, they would’ve met in person for something this complex. Face-to-face discussions were always better for ironing out details. But getting everyone back to the office would take at least two hours, and the momentum was too good to waste.
So they set up a video conference instead.
As the others logged in one by one, their faces popping up in little squares on Elodie’s screen, Johnny suddenly asked, “Wait. Are you alone in your room right now p>
“Yeah,” Elodie said, not looking up from her notes.
“What about your husband? And everyone else p>
“They’re eating, I think p>
“Just him and Liora p>
“No. Sienna, Levi, Harry, they’re all there p>
There was a beat of silence.
Then Johnny’s voice came through, filled with incredulity. “They’re all downstairs, and you’re up here by yourself p>
“They invited me,” Elodie said calmly. “I said no p>
Another pause.
“Well,” Johnny said slowly, his tone grudging, “at least Dante had the decency to invite you. That’s… something, I guess p>
Elodie’s lips pressed into a thin line.
She didn’t feel the same way.
Dante hadn’t invited her because he wanted her there. He’d done it to cover his bases. To make sure that if Nonna asked later, he could say he’d tried. That he’d done his duty.
And even if she had gone downstairs, it wouldn’t have mattered.
With Levi’s sarcasm, Sienna’s smug smiles, Harry’s careful indifference, and Liora’s divided loyalty, Elodie would’ve been surrounded by people who either didn’t want her there or didn’t know what to do with her.
She would’ve sat at that table, invisible and unwanted, while everyone else laughed and talked around her like she was a piece of furniture.
So no.
She didn’t think Dante inviting her was particularly considerate.
She thought it was performative.
And she was tired of performing.
“Let’s just get to work,” Elodie said quietly, pulling up the presentation she’d been building.
Johnny must’ve heard something in her tone, because he didn’t push.
“Yeah,” he said. “Let’s do this p>
And for the next few hours, Elodie lost herself in the work. In the ideas. In the one thing that had never let her down.
Downstairs, they were probably still laughing. Still eating. Still pretending she didn’t exist.
But up here, in the quietness of her room, and surrounded by people who saw her for what she could do instead of who she’d failed to be… She felt alive.