Adrian’s POV

The silence that followed my declaration hung heavy in the air, thick with unspoken questions, with the audacious leap I had just taken. Emma stood before me, a vision of raw, unfiltered beauty in her comfortable clothes, her eyes wide with disbelief. Behind her, Grandma Rose, with her shrewd, knowing gaze, seemed to assess me, piercing through the carefully constructed façade of Adrian Cross, the billionaire, to the terrified, hopeful man beneath.