Sweet Love 2x: Miss Ruthless CEO for our Superstar Uncle-Chapter 147: A Dinner for Two

Leo and Lily had been on the living room floor for most of the hour.

Their toys were arranged in careful lines between them — the result of a game that had somewhere along the way become a planning session. Leo had his tablet. Lily had a piece of paper and three colored markers. Neither of them was playing anymore.

The house moved around them. The staff passed through the hallways with practiced efficiency. From the kitchen, the low sound of something being prepared drifted in and then faded.

Then the front door opened.

Sam pushed through with her hip, two gift bags in one hand and a box wedged under her arm. Her hair was loose, her clothes relaxed — rehearsal, not anything formal. She made it three steps into the room before she saw the twins and stopped.

"Well," she said. "There you two are."

Lily looked up.

For a moment her face lit with recognition. Then it went suspicious.

"You forgot about us."

Sam blinked. "I did not forget about you."

Lily stood and walked closer, arms folded, the exaggerated seriousness only a four-year-old could maintain with a straight face.

"You didn’t visit for a long time."

Sam set the gift bags on the table and crouched to meet her at eye level. "I was working."

Leo picked up his tablet and typed. He turned the screen toward Lily.

Lily read it aloud.

"Excuse."

Sam placed a hand against her chest. "That is very rude. I brought gifts."

Lily glanced at the bags. Her suspicion dissolved immediately.

Leo slid closer and began examining the packages with the focused attention of someone conducting a professional assessment. Lily accepted one of the bags from Sam and looked inside.

"You’re forgiven, Aunty Sam," Lily announced.

Sam laughed as she settled into the chair beside the table. "I’m glad the negotiation went well."

The twins opened the gifts with concentration. Leo got a small mechanical puzzle. Lily got a new set of colored markers, which she immediately began testing on a piece of paper, pressing each one down to check the ink.

The room settled.

Then Lily looked up.

"Aunty Sam."

"Yes?"

Lily leaned in, lowering her voice as if sharing classified information. "Uncle Franz’s birthday is coming."

Sam nodded. "I know."

"Aunt Aria has to take him to dinner."

Sam blinked once. "Oh? What do you have in mind?"

Leo’s fingers moved across the tablet. He turned the screen toward Lily.

She read the message.

"Romantic dinner."

Sam leaned back in her chair. "You two are planning a date."

Leo nodded.

Lily nodded too, extremely serious.

"It’s Phase Two."

Sam pressed her lips together to hold the smile back. "And what exactly does Phase Two involve?"

Leo typed.

"Private dinner," Lily read.

Sam studied the two of them. Then she reached for her phone.

"If you want a romantic dinner," she said, "you’ll need a place."

She tapped the screen and waited.

Nate answered on the second ring.

"What did I do this time?"

"Nothing yet," Sam said. "I have two people here who want to talk to you."

"That’s concerning."

She put it on speaker and set the phone on the table.

Lily leaned forward immediately. "Uncle Nate."

A pause.

"...That already sounds dangerous."

Leo typed. Lily read the message aloud: "Private birthday dinner."

Several seconds of silence.

Then Nate laughed. "Let me get this straight. You two are organizing a romantic birthday dinner for Franz Rochefort."

Leo typed.

"Correct," Lily read, with the confidence of someone who had already decided the matter was closed.

"You’re not allowed to ruin this," Sam told Nate. "They’re doing something useful."

"I’m not ruining anything. I’m impressed."

"Why?"

"Because it took four-year-olds to plan the date Franz should’ve arranged himself."

Sam laughed.

Leo typed again. Lily read: "Phase Two."

Nate sighed dramatically. "Alright. I’ll secure a private dining space."

Lily clapped once. "Thank you, Uncle Nate."

"Just promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Don’t tell Franz I helped."

Sam ended the call.

The twins sat for a moment, satisfied.

Then Sam tilted her head. "Have either of you checked if Arianne is actually free that night?"

The twins froze.

Leo looked down at the tablet and began typing immediately.

"Ask Uncle Gio," Lily read.

A few minutes later the three of them were walking down the hallway toward the office wing. Sam followed behind the twins, amused.

Then she thought about seeing Gio.

Her smile tightened. She pressed it back into place and kept walking.

They found Gio at the long desk in the study, a tablet open in front of him, documents spread across the surface in the particular order of someone who knew exactly where everything was. He looked up when they appeared in the doorway — took in the twins, then Sam, then the twins again.

Lily stopped directly in front of the desk. "Uncle Gio."

Gio raised an eyebrow.

Leo typed and turned the tablet toward Lily.

"Does Aunt Aria have time on Uncle Franz’s birthday?"

Gio glanced at Sam in the doorway.

Sam raised both hands. "Just observing."

Gio looked back at the twins. "Why?"

Leo typed. "Important dinner," Lily read.

This clarified very little. Gio opened the schedule on his tablet and scrolled through the upcoming dates. After a moment he nodded.

"She doesn’t have anything scheduled that evening."

Lily’s eyes went wide. Leo typed.

"Perfect," Lily read.

"Perfect for what?" Gio asked.

Lily smiled. "You’ll see."

The twins turned and walked back down the hallway, heads together, already whispering.

Sam stayed in the doorway a moment longer.

Gio looked at her. "You’re encouraging this."

"Absolutely," Sam said. "Sorry for the interruption."

She left before he could say anything else.

In the hallway, she exhaled. Kept her pace even. Didn’t look back at the door.

Gio shook his head. The small smile that followed suggested he already knew exactly what was being planned.

Back in the living room, Leo and Lily returned to the table where the calendar lay open.

Leo typed one final message on the tablet.

Lily leaned in to read it. Then she picked up the red marker and circled the date.

Underneath the circle, Leo typed two words.

Plan ready.

Across the room, Sam was watching them.

She pulled out her phone.

They circled the date, she typed to Nate. It’s happening.

His reply came in seconds.

Venue’s handled. Don’t let them burn anything down.

She looked up at the twins, bent over the calendar, deeply focused on a plan that had no idea it was already in motion.

She put her phone away.