Chapter 166: The view from here
Lucy pressed a hand to her temple, exhaling slowly as she leaned against the edge of the velvet chaise in the sunroom. The villa was beautiful, of course it was. Caleb never did anything halfway. But the air felt suffocating, like gold walls closing in.
Andrew had finally stopped crying, lulled to sleep by one of the nannies. The silence left behind wasn’t peace, it was pressure. Lucy felt it in every breath.
Caleb watched her from the glass doors, his posture relaxed, a glass of wine dangling from his fingers. He stepped closer.
"You need a break," he said softly, his voice lower now, intimate. "You’ve been through a lot."
Lucy turned, her eyes wary. "I just need a moment to breathe."
Caleb nodded, then gestured toward the double doors leading out to the veranda. "Come. Let me show you something."
She followed him, letting the air of the evening wrap around her as they stepped into the open. The view was stunning, the landscape stretching, hills dusted in the final gold of the sun, the soft ripple of the private pool catching the last light.
"This place," he said, voice reverent, "was meant for a family. For us."
Lucy’s jaw tightened slightly, but she let the words settle.
"It’s beautiful," she said, though her gaze was still on the horizon. "But beauty doesn’t stop the chaos."
He stepped closer behind her, a little too close, his hand gently sliding over her waist. "You don’t need to hold it all together anymore," he whispered. "You have me now. Everything you need, everything you want, is right here."