A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

Only Lisette had truly stuck by him, from the very beginning, never once hinting that she'd give up on him.

Valerian looked at Lisette, his heart aching for her. "Lisette, what if she really gives you a hard time? What will you do then?"

He frowned. "Maybe I should go talk to her. Set things straight!"

"Don't!" Lisette quickly grabbed his arm, stopping him from leaving.

"If you confront her, she won't listen. I'll be fine, really. At worst, she'll just pile on more work. She's not going to hurt me or anything. She's not about to hire someone to kidnap me or make my life a living hell, right?"

"A little extra work is nothing. If it helps the company, why not? If it means Horatio can walk again, and Callie stops making things difficult for you guys... isn't that worth it? I'd rather take the hit myself than have everyone suffer."

Lisette smiled, her voice light. "Don't worry about me, really!"

"Lisette, I'm sorry," Horatio said, looking at her, guilt written all over his face. "We haven't done a great job protecting you."

Callie's done helping Horatio recover," Monty chimed in, "we'll figure out a way to win the company back. Everything will go back to how it was, and the company will

shook her head. "I just want our family to be happy. That's all

work. Don't let me keep you all. While Callie's around, let's just keep some distance,

Lisette slipped out, looking as thoughtful and mature

Monty said, shaking

all love Lisette," Valerian said, frowning. "Callie's temper always gets to us. She thinks we're out to get her, or that we owe her something. For a while, we tried to make it up to her, even at bisette's expense. But Lisette never

might refuse to treat me.

still needed Calliope's help, so they tried to make amends with her, even if it felta little forced. They brought her some food, but it was obvious they weren't thrilled about

warmth and understanding, Valerian's patience started to

do you have to be like this

in her work, barely registering his

"Did you even hear what I