"Our baby is going to be a fighter," he said softly. "Like her mother."
"God help us if he or she has your stubbornness and my temper."
"We're going to be in so much trouble."
Advika finished the last rose, then stepped back to admire her work. The cake was perfect—exactly what she'd envisioned. Pale yellow with white roses, delicate and beautiful, just like she hoped their child would be.
"Now can we go home?" Sidharth asked. "Before you decide to start on another project?"
"Yes, yes. Let me just—"
"Meera will handle closing," he interrupted. "Won't you, Meera?"
"Absolutely, boss." Meera was already shooing them toward the door. "Go home. Rest. We've got everything covered."
The drive home was peaceful. Sinfully Sweet had expanded to five locations across the city, plus a thriving catering business and a cookbook that had been on the bestseller list for six months. Advika's empire was everything she'd dreamed and more.
And through it all, Sidharth had been her biggest supporter.
"How was your day?" she asked, her hand resting on her belly.
"Good. Boring, actually. Lots of paperwork, one tedious meeting about shipping contracts."
At the estate, they found the family already gathering for dinner. It had become a weekly tradition—everyone together, sharing a meal, being a real family.
Nisha greeted them at the door, her engagement ring—a tasteful emerald, courtesy of her fiancé Eshaan—catching the light.
"You're late," she said. "And you look exhausted, Advika. Please tell me you weren't working all day."
"I was finishing the cake for the shower."
"Of course you were." Nisha rolled her eyes but smiled. "Come on. Dinner's ready. And Rishabh brought his girlfriend. I think this might be serious."
It was. Priya was lovely—a doctor, smart and funny, who treated Rishabh like he was just a man instead of the second-in-command of a mafia empire. Advika liked her immediately.
Over dinner, they laughed and talked. Nisha discussed wedding plans (six months away, and she was already driving everyone crazy with details). Rishabh and Priya shared stories from the hospital where she worked. Sidharth kept his hand on Advika'sthigh, thumb tracing absent patterns, his touch constant and reassuring.
"I can't believe you're having a baby," Nisha said, her eyes on Advika's belly. "It seems like just yesterday you were the annoying new wife I was determined to hate."
"And now?"
"Now you're the annoying sister I'm stuck with." But Nisha's smile was warm. "I'm glad you're here, Advika. Glad you stayed. Glad you didn't give up on him." She nodded toward Sidharth.
"Someone had to knock sense into him," Advika replied.
"And thank God you did."
The relationship with her half-brothers remained cordial but distant. Abhishek sent perfunctory birthday cards. Rahul occasionally texted. They'd never be close, and Advika had made peace with that. The family she'd built here—with Sidharth, Nisha, and Rishabh—was more than enough.
After dinner, Sidharth practically carried her upstairs, despite her protests that she could walk perfectly fine.
"You've been on your feet all day," he said firmly. "I'm not taking chances."
In their bedroom—the same one they'd shared from the beginning, though it had evolved to truly be theirs now, full of photos and memories and love—he helped her change into one of his t-shirts (the only thing that fit comfortably anymore) and settled her on the bed.
"Do you ever regret it?" Advika asked as he lay beside her, his hand immediately finding her belly.
"Regret what?"
