A hush fell over the compound the moment Adrian made the request.

The twins gasped dramatically. George swallowed hard. Even Wendy’s eyes widened in quiet curiosity.

And Amelia… Amelia actually blinked.

Did Adrian just ask her that?

For a split second, she wondered if she had misheard him. Tea? Inside this house? The very house she had walked out of years ago with her dignity barely stitched together?

She smiled, that controlled, elegant smile she wore when she needed time to think. She was already forming the polite refusal in her head.

‘No, thank you. Maybe next time.’

‘The boys need to leave.’

‘I have work.’

But before a single...