Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
He walks to the front door. Unlocks it. Pushes it open and gestures inside. What is he doing?
I step through onto hardwood floors. The space is wide and empty but clean.
It's beautiful. Stunning. Exactly the kind of place I'd — Oh.
“What is this?” My voice sounds distant. Like it's coming from someone else.
Hella leans against the doorframe. Arms crossed. Watching me with those eyes that see too much. “Your new shop.”
I shuffle on my feet. “My what?”
“Your new franchise location.” He pushes off the frame. “For Cyanide & Sugar Auckland.”
Olive gasps. “Mummy, you're opening a shop here?”
I can't speak. Can't process.
Hella moves to stand in front of me. Close enough that I can smell leather and engine oil and him.
“You said Karian was a powerhouse manager.” His voice is low, clearly for me alone. “You said she could handle Westbeach on her own.”
“I did.” I cross my arms.
“So let her.” He reaches out. Tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Branch out here. Build something new.”
“Hella—”
“This area is protected by the club.” He continues, cutting me off. “Every business on this street knows us. Respects us. You'll be safe here. Olive will be safe here.”
“I don't know if I can—”
“You can.” He cups my face. Forces me to look at him. “Melissa, this is Devonport. It’s fucking safe. Got good schools for Olive too just up the road. I'm fucking sick of being away from you both. Sick of phone calls and texts and only seeing you on weekends. We're a family, Melissa. And I want us in the same city. Same house. Same life.”
My eyes burn. “This is—it's a lot.”
“It's what I want.” His voice drops. “What we want. Right, princess?”
“Right!” Olive bounces on her toes. “Say yes, Mummy! Please say yes!”
I look around the space again, trying to imagine it filled with display cases and tables and the smell of fresh pastries. Trying to imagine mornings here instead of Westbeach. Olive going to a school nearby. Coming home to Hella every night at the cabin instead of just some nights.
“I already bought it.” Hella adds, shrugging.
“That's—you can't—”
“I can.” He grins. “And I did.”
“Hella—”
“Please.” The word stops me cold. Hella doesn't say please. Doesn't beg. Doesn't ask for things he can demand.
But he's asking now. Pleading with his eyes even as his jaw stays tight.
“I fucking love our family.” His voice cracks on the words. “Love you. Love Olive. Love this life we're building even when it's hard. Even when it hurts. And I'm done being apart from it. From you. So please. Please say yes.”
The tears I've been holding back break free before I can stop them.
Olive makes a worried sound. Hella's thumb brushes the wetness away.
“They're happy tears, baby.” I force the words past the knot in my throat. “Mummy's—”
“Overwhelmed?” Hella supplies.
“Yeah. That.”
He kisses my forehead. Gentle. Careful. Like I'm something precious instead of something broken.
“So is that a yes?”
I look around the space one more time. At the chandelier. The windows. The empty floors waiting to be filled.
At Olive's hopeful face.
At Hella's eyes that see all my cracks and love me anyway.
“Yes.” The word comes out barely above a whisper. “Yes, it's a yes.”
Olive shrieks. Launches herself at both of us. We catch her together. A tangle of arms and laughter and something that feels dangerously close to happiness.
For a moment—a moment—the weight lifts.
Then Millie's face flashes through my mind. Her smile. Her laugh. Her hand in mine that last night before — The weight crashes back down. Heavier than before.
Because I'm moving on. Building something new. But creating a life without her in it feels like betrayal. Like acceptance. Like admitting she's not coming back.
Hella notices my panic, his arms tightening around me. “Hey. You okay?”
I nod. Even though I'm not. Even though I'll never be okay again until I hear from her.
I smile, waving him off. “Tired.”
“We can look at the space another day. If you want to head back—”
“No.” I pull myself together and force a smile, because my kid is way too perceptive. “No, I want to see everything. Show me.”
He searches my face, searching for a lie. There isn’t one. I want to see it and I want this life.
Finally, he takes both mine and Olive’s hands. “I’ll show you the kitchen.”
I follow him deeper into the space and listen as he explains the history of the place and how we can use some of the old paintings to decorate the walls.
Olive asks a million questions and Hella answers every single one with patience, like always.
And I stand there. Half present. Half somewhere else.
Half building a future. Half mourning a past that won't let me go. Hella senses it, because he’s back in front of me in an instant, tucking me under his arm. “Come on, princess. Lets get mummy home.”