Matilda’s breathing steadied little by little, her tears drying into the fabric of Nathan’s sleeve. His touch had stilled her storm, but the silence that followed pressed down heavily.

The door creaked softly, Ethan stepped in, balancing a tray with fruit and tea, his eyes immediately catching the scene his sister clinging to Nathan like a lifeline. He froze for a moment, the image striking something deep in him, then cleared his throat to break the fragile quiet.

“I thought maybe you’d want something sweet,” Ethan said lightly, setting the tray down. “Sugar makes everything better, right?”

Matilda pulled back from Nathan quickly, wiping at her face with the back of her hand. She forced a small smile. “You still think fruit can fix anything.”

“It worked when you were seven,” he teased gently, dragging a chair closer to her bedside. “Though back then, it was mostly bribery to get you to stop crying over lost dolls.”

"You guys carry on I need to make a phone call" She said standing up from beside her "I will be right back" he added and left.

She kept on looking up at Ethan while eating the fruits on the tray, Ethan who couldn't hold ignore her short glances anymore finally spoke

"Ask" he said looking straight at her

"What?" She asked back with an innocent look

"I am your older brother girl, I know you....ask what you want to?"

Maltilda studied him for a long moment, her expression sobering. “Ethan… did you know about it?”

He blinked. “About what?”

“The marriage contract,” she whispered. “The one Mother and Father signed before I was even born. Did you know I was… promised?”

Ethan’s jaw tightened, “I knew,” he admitted carefully. “Not the details...I had overheard Mom and Nathan's late Mom talking about it when I was 12, I didn't hear the details so all I could bring out from Thier conversation was that there was something binding you to the Cross family, I didn’t want to burden you with it back then and I didn't think it would be a marriage contract so I never pushed it ”

Matilda’s chest rose and fell, her fingers twisting in the blanket.

“And now? You think I should go through with it?, ”

Ethan leaned forward, searching her face. “I think the question isn’t whether you can,” he said softly, “but whether you want to.”

Her throat tightened. She looked away, eyes stinging again.

“Want has nothing to do with it. The company’s gone....The name is a stain. And me…” She gestured weakly toward her legs, her voice breaking. “What man in his right mind wants a wife who can’t even stand beside him?”

Silence thickened, painful and raw

Ethan studied her for a beat, his tone gentler now, he said

“I think Nathan does, the fact that he is still here despite everything is already proof of it, the fact that he looked for you and didn't believe you were dead like everybody else has already proved it too...the question is are you going to fulfill the contract?”

Matilda swallowed hard, her pulse thundering.Her throat constricted. “Ethan, I’ve lost enough. My peace… it’s all I have left.”

He leaned closer, his voice tightening. “Peace? Or hiding?”

She flinched... He didn’t apologize.

“You think I don’t know what it’s like to want to disappear?” he continued, his tone raw now. “10 years ago I was on that plane with Mom and Dad.... I woke up on a riverbank, my leg shattered, my chest crushed, in the arms of a stranger who dragged me out before the current could finish me off. I spent three years learning to walk again. I kept telling myself I’d come home until I found out I was already declared dead.... Until I realized I’d been erased, just like you were.”

Her eyes filled, and she hated herself for it, maybe should have tried harder to look for him. “Ethan…”

“I stayed in the shadows because I thought it was safer for you,” he said, his jaw clenched. “But when I heard about your accident… when they told me you’d died too…” He broke off, his hands curling into fists. “Tilly, I can’t lose you again...and I’m telling you, you can’t survive forever by pretending the fire’s not there.”

Her voice was barely a whisper. “You think going back will fix me?”

“No,” he said simply. “But it might save what you still have left of you.”

She turned her face away, blinking hard. Nathan’s words lingered like a splinter, "Peace doesn’t come when the wolves are still at your door"

“I’m not ready,” she said finally.

Ethan’s gaze softened, but his reply was unwavering.

“Then get ready.... Because whether it’s with Nathan or without him, the day’s coming when you’ll have to face them. Tilly… going back to L.A. isn’t just about the contract or your marriage to him....It’s also about everything you have been through.....my sister is stronger than this"

.............

The scent of warm broth curled through the air as Ada set the tray on the bedside table waking Maltilda up from her thoughts, she was tired of lying down on the bed so she moved and sat on the wheelchair Nathan had brought with Ada's help it was obvious he had put in a lot of efforts into choosing the chair, the sit pad was soft and would be easier to sit on for a long time, it also had a soft armrest and buttons to press for emergency or if she needed anything, and it was automated so she didn't have to disturb anyone to push her around.

"It's comfortable?" Ada asked seeing as she was checking out the wheelchair's features.

"Yeah it's not bad" she said

“Before you argue, you’re eating,” she said, in that firm but gentle tone Matilda had never been able to defy.

Matilda adjusted on the chair taking the spoon Ada offered without a word. The first sip was almost startling salty, rich, alive and she realized how long it had been since she’d tasted something that wasn’t hospital-sterile....or how long she had actually tasted something at all.

Ada watched her quietly for a moment before speaking. “Mary and Cassie are on their way. I called them this morning after you fell back asleep. They were… well, emotional doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

Matilda smiled slightly. “You told them I'm awake? and about my condition”

“They needed to know you’re back, Tilly,” Ada said, her voice gentle but steady. “They’ve been asking every day like clockwork....it was impossible going to keep them in the dark”

Matilda lowered the spoon back into the bowl, pushing it slightly away. “And you’re not going to tell me what to do about this marriage contract either, are you?”

Ada didn’t flinch. “No.”

“No?” Matilda repeated, almost incredulous. “You’ve been making decisions for me for two years where I live, who knows I’m alive, what doctor treats me, who enters my ward and now suddenly, when it comes to signing my life over to Nathan Cross, you’re quiet?”

Ada moved the tray aside and sat on the edge of the bed, her hands folded in her lap. “Because this isn’t like the rest. I could choose for you when you weren’t conscious. I could protect you when you couldn’t protect yourself. But this—” she gestured toward the unopened envelope on the nightstand “this is a decision you’ll have to live with every day. And that means it has to be yours.”

Matilda looked at her, frustration tightening in her chest. “And if I say no?”

“Then we deal with the fallout,” Ada said simply. “Whatever it is. But if you say yes, Tilly… you need to know why you’re saying it. Not because you’re cornered, not because you feel like you need to fulfill a promise made by your parents...You have to own it.”

Matilda leaned back, the faint throb in her temples growing. “What if I don’t want to own anything anymore?”

Ada’s eyes softened, but her voice was unyielding. “Then you let them win. And I know you, Tilly you don’t like losing.”

The room went quiet except for the soft hum of the heater.

Matilda looked toward the window, where the winter light streamed in pale and cold.

Outside, life went on, oblivious to the war she was fighting in her head.

And for the first time since she opened her eyes two days ago, she wondered if Ada and Ethan were right..... should she really not give up yet.....