"Do you like it?" Daniel asked curiously as he watched his sister taking a bite of the apple pie that he had especially prepared for her.

Emily hurriedly nodded her head in response as she enjoyed the rich flavor coating her taste buds. She had missed the taste of delicious foods that her Second brother used to cook.

​​

"Here's the wine. It's one of the expensive ones... from the top shelf." Leo informed Domenic as he returned to the dining hall with a wine bottle. The sheepish grin on his face clearly stated that he was happy to take advantage of the moment to taste such a rare wine.

Nick just shook his head with a barely noticeable smile on his lips but did not say anything. It was such a happy occasion where his family had become complete once again. He was just happy and wanted to enjoy the moment.

Crist helped Leo to pour the wine into the glasses before handing them over to everyone.

Emily's raised one of her eyebrows when she found them handing a glass to her. It was the first time when she would be drinking with her brothers and the thought excited her.

Domenic grabbed everyone's attention towards him when he stood up while holding the glass of wine. He looked at everyone sitting around the table before he let his eyes settle on his sister.

"Today was a really special day. Many things happened... but thankfully... at the end of the day, we are still together as a family. This is to welcome our sister back and also to welcome Shadow... not as Emily's bodyguard, nor as her close friend but as a family member. He is a family too."

Everyone clapped and smiled as they all stood up to cheer. Emily smiled as she looked at Shadow with warmth. The man was taken by surprise as he stared at Domenic and the others with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"I'm hoping that you don't have any objections. We are more than happy to welcome you as one of us in the family. You will be equal to us but will hold your freedom to do whatever you want." Domenic looked at Shadow, waiting for the man to come out of his shocked state.

Emily nudged the man who turned to look at her with questioning eyes. In response, she gave him a warm smile as she said in a soft voice, "Welcome to the family, Shadow."

Slowly, his lips twitched as a small smile bloomed on his face. He nodded his head at her before he turned to look at her brothers and raised his wine glass as he thanked everyone.

They all cheered with happiness as they enjoyed the warm reunion and welcomed Shadow as a family member.

After a long time, the Alessandro mansion was once again filled with the energy of joy and warmth.

***

Emily canceled her date with Kaiden that the two had planned for Monday as she wanted to spend a few days with her family.

Though Master Sullivan wasn't too happy, he understood her reasoning and was more than ready to comply as long as it meant she would be happy.

After Emily's return to the mansion, the huge house had once again become a home. They all started having breakfast together and in the evening, they made sure to spend a few hours together either playing games, relaxing after a tiring workday, or watching tv.

--

AIL LABELS -

Emily climbed out of her car and entered the twelve-storey building that she had recently purchased in the central city to open a branch of her company in City A.

The guards and receptionist greeted her as she moved towards the private elevator that led to the upper floors where the head departments and her office were located.

Jenna, her secretary, greeted her with a cup of her favorite coffee as soon as she walked out of the elevator.

"Boss, Ms. Harris has connected us a few days ago regarding the shipping of the fabrics. Mr. Redley had already checked all the details and he's ready to accept the deal but he still wants to discuss it with you. He has been waiting for you." Jenna notified her boss as she followed the young lady to the private sitting area where Mr. Redley, Head of the clothing department, was waiting for them.

"Redley." Emily greeted her Academy friend with a small smile on her face as she moved to take a seat after signaling him to do the same.

"Mam... I mean Emy... I know that you trust me enough to handle my brand and all its important decisions on my own but this is about us partnering up with a new company and it's a very important decision. I want you to personally take a look at it before permitting me to sign it." Redley told his friend in a serious tone.

A sigh left Emily's mouth as she realized that no matter how hard she would try, he won't be listening to her and in the end, she would still have to check the partnership situation.

Her company, AIL Labels, was an organization of several different divisions, and the head of these divisions were her close friends whom she met with during the past four years.

Zara Monroe was the first one who joined hands with her to reunite their small brands together. While Emily had created her own webcomic app, Zara was creating an app for novels. The two worked together as they had a lot in common.

The second person who joined her team was Smith Willow. He was introduced to Emily by Shadow and unlike Zara, Smith wasn't studying at the Academy. Rather, he was a thirty-year-old man who had a small book shop in the town near the Academy.

When Emily saw his story drafts, she was immediately impressed. The man had great potential. He joined Zara and the two of them worked together on the writing app. While Emily kept getting help from Erica and her team of experts.

During her time in the Academy, Emily met a lot of students who had their ideas and plans for creating or starting their businesses but they were either sort of on confidence or money.

Within four years, her initial plan of starting her own writing platform developed into creating a place where young people could come with their dreams.

AIL LABELS was now a corporate with a comic and novel writing department, an anime creation department, a clothing brand, a jewelry brand, a cosmetic brand, and a newly created music department.

Somehow, all the divisions were doing good on their own, and as the CEO of the company, Emily could not be more proud of how well her and other's dreams had come true in such a small time.

But it was also true that their company was still new and small, and there was too much competition. They needed to work hard to maintain their current position in the market and reach new heights of success.

Emily spent the entire day taking care of the important works that were left pending because of her absence during the past few days.

By the time it was the end of working hours, she was tired after working continuously for so many hours.

A knock on her office door pulled her attention towards Jenna who entered the room with a freshly brewed herbal tea which she placed in front of her.

"Boss, this parcel came for you." Her secretary told her before she placed a small box on the table.

Emily frowned as she looked at the box. It was packed in a beautiful blue-colored gift wrap with a pink bow on its top.

"Thank you, Jenna. You can now leave. Leo will be here in five minutes to pick me up." She told her Secretary who was also looking tired after working with her none stop since the morning.

The young woman nodded her head before bidding her goodbye as she left the office to head towards her home.

Emily sipped the refreshing tea a few times to calm down her body. She lived how quickly the magical tea took away the tiredness from her body and made her relax.

After a while, she pulled the gift box towards her and started taking off the wrap. The box was sealed too perfectly that it took her a lot of effort to take off the wrapper.

Inside was a cardboard box with a beautiful peacock design made on the lid. It was painted in bright sparkly colors and the beautiful design made a small smile appear on Emily's face.

She slowly opened the box to look at the surprise that was hidden inside. The first thing that she noticed was the photo card on which a black wolf was printed.

She took the photo card and then lifted the small glass frame that was placed beneath it. But as soon as her eyes landed on the surprise hidden beneath the glass frame, a scream full of fear left her lips.