Chapter 144: A New Home

Louis suggested moving.

Freya immediately rejected the idea.

He waited.

Three days later, Freya admitted the apartment had become impractical. Awake Stories paperwork occupied half the dining area, Louis sometimes held secure calls from the bedroom, and upgraded security equipment made the entrance look like a small fortress.

Still, leaving felt emotional.

This was the apartment where she woke in a sea of bags. Where she cleaned for three hours. Where Louis offered her almost everything he had because he thought she would divorce him. Where she cooked breakfast and accidentally destroyed Adrian's ninety-six-percent prediction.

Louis understood.

So instead of choosing a mansion, they searched together.

Freya refused enormous villas.

Louis rejected apartments with poor security.

They argued about commute times, kitchens, windows, and whether a reading room counted as necessary.

Freya insisted it did.

Eventually they found a spacious but warm townhouse with a private courtyard, secure access, a large kitchen, and two offices.

Freya loved the natural light.

Louis liked the security.

They bought it jointly.

That detail mattered to Freya.

Moving day became unexpectedly chaotic. Derek arrived to help and discovered Louis had labeled boxes with a corporate inventory system.

"Kitchenware A-01?" Freya read.

"Efficient."

"Psychotic."

Serena brought food. Ethan carried furniture despite everyone telling him movers existed. Melissa delivered a houseplant as a joke because Freya's first little potted plant had become famous among their friends.

Freya carefully moved the framed interior-design sketch herself.

The final box contained three luxury bags she had kept from the original collection.

Louis lifted one.

"Still planning to sell these when I go bankrupt again?"

"If you go bankrupt twice, that's a skill issue."

He laughed.

That night they returned to the old apartment one last time after the movers left.

The rooms looked smaller empty.

Freya stood in the bedroom where she had awakened.

"I was terrified here," she admitted.

"Of me?"

"Mostly of being exposed as an imposter."

Louis leaned against the doorway.

"You were terrible at pretending to be the old Freya."

"Apparently."

She turned off the light.

At the new townhouse, the little plant from the apartment sat on the kitchen windowsill.

Freya had insisted on bringing it.

Some things belonged to the beginning.

They did not have to remain there.

They kept the old apartment lease until its term naturally ended rather than forcing an immediate handover. Freya used the extra weeks to make sure nothing meaningful had been left behind. The final inspection found only a forgotten spoon in a kitchen drawer, which Louis insisted proved Freya's supposedly perfect cleaning had always been overrated.

They kept the old apartment lease until its term naturally ended rather than forcing an immediate handover. Freya used the extra weeks to make sure nothing meaningful had been left behind. The final inspection found only a forgotten spoon in a kitchen drawer, which Louis insisted proved Freya's supposedly perfect cleaning had always been overrated.

They kept the old apartment lease until its term naturally ended rather than forcing an immediate handover. Freya used the extra weeks to make sure nothing meaningful had been left behind. The final inspection found only a forgotten spoon in a kitchen drawer, which Louis insisted proved Freya's supposedly perfect cleaning had always been overrated.

They kept the old apartment lease until its term naturally ended rather than forcing an immediate handover. Freya used the extra weeks to make sure nothing meaningful had been left behind. The final inspection found only a forgotten spoon in a kitchen drawer, which Louis insisted proved Freya's supposedly perfect cleaning had always been overrated.

They kept the old apartment lease until its term naturally ended rather than forcing an immediate handover. Freya used the extra weeks to make sure nothing meaningful had been left behind. The final inspection found only a forgotten spoon in a kitchen drawer, which Louis insisted proved Freya's supposedly perfect cleaning had always been overrated.