CHAPTER 47

Vanya's POV

I sat in the muse of what I now thought to be a blissful evening, one of the best I have had in quite a while. The surprise party had been a success, full of laughter, warmth, all with a fleeting sense of safety.

For a brief moment, I had allowed myself to believe that perhaps I could reclaim a semblance of normalcy in my life. But as I stood in the quiet aftermath of the celebration, surrounded by empty champagne flutes and deflated balloons, I realized how naive that hope had been.

I was tidying up the last of the decorations when I heard footsteps echoing in the empty hall. My heart skipped a beat, a sense of unease creeping into my chest. When I turned to face the intruder, my breath caught in my throat.

There he was, standing at the entrance with a smug grin plastered across his face Cian. Dressed immaculately in a dark suit that seemed to blend with the shadows, he held a bouquet of roses in one hand and a small box wrapped in silver paper in the other. The sight o