Lily fell into a profound, heavy silence. The air in the room seemed to vibrate with the unsaid, the tension stretching like a wire pulled to the point of snapping.
When she finally broke the quiet, she didn't use the soft, diplomatic tone she often employed. Instead, she looked at him with a startling, flat directness, the gaze of a woman who had stripped away all social pretenses and was prepared to speak the raw, unvarnished truth.
"Is that what you want?" she asked. The question wasn't a probe for information; it was a demand for his soul.
Rex met her eyes, his gaze unwavering. He felt the weight of the decision, the sheer gravity of the life he was inviting into this storm.
"Yes," he said. The word was short, sharp, and final.
Lily held his gaze, her eyes searching his for any hint of doubt, any flicker of hesitation. Finding none, she let out a breath she seemed to have been holding for hours.
"Then that is what this house will be," she said.
