George Cooper, looking thoroughly amused, stayed out of it, holding a drill in one hand and a muffin in the other.

At the front entrance, Milo Byrne supervised the men unloading furniture, his quiet but commanding presence a stark contrast to Marlene’s lively chatter.

Kai stood beside him, an almost boyish hope in his expression, like he was still searching for his father’s approval. But the look in Milo’s eyes said that Kai had already earned it.

I spotted Hayley near the window, her soft eyes taking in the orphanage’s transformation.

My throat tightened. She had been my rock after I lost my parents, the one person who had made me feel safe when the world crumbled.

I crossed the room to her and slipped my hand into hers.

“Thank you,” I murmured.

She squeezed my fingers. “For what, sweetheart?”

“For being my family before I knew how much I needed one.”

Her eyes shimmered, and she cupped my cheek. “You were always mine, Sadie.”

I blinked back the sudden sting of tears just as Adam’s voice rumbled beside me.

“Need a hand?”

I turned to find him watching me with that soft gaze of his, a smudge of paint on his jaw that made my fingers itch to wipe it away.

“We did it,” I whispered, scanning the room again. “Look at this place.”

Adam wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pressing a kiss to my temple. “You did it, sugar. We just followed your lead.”

I leaned into him, my heart swelling. Not just with love for Adam, but for every single person here.

A loud thud made me turn. Across the room, Asher Wolfe had just dropped a massive wooden table onto the floor, grinning like he’d done it on purpose.

“I think it looks good there, what do you think?” he said, shaking out his arms.

Garrett, his older brother, let out an exasperated sigh, arms crossed over his broad chest. “You could’ve put it down without shaking the damn walls, Asher.”

“What’s the fun in that?” Asher smirked, then turned to me. “Sadie, sweetheart, you’d better appreciate this. We had to drag this thing halfway across town.”

“I carried it halfway across town,” Beckett Wolfe muttered from where he stood beside them, arms resting against the back of a newly assembled chair. His dark eyes flicked to me. “Glad you like it.”

Garrett clapped a hand on Beckett’s shoulder. “Don’t mind him. He’d rather be in the woods, but we forced him into civilization for the day.”

Beckett just huffed, clearly not arguing the point.

I grinned, shaking my head. “I do appreciate it. Thank you, all of you.”

Garrett gave me a small nod… approval, maybe. The kind that had to be earned. “You’ve done good work here, Sadie.”

I didn’t know why, but the words settled something deep inside me.

Across the room, Ryan, Jaxon, and Colt were attempting to assemble a set of bookshelves, arguing over the instruction manual.

“You’re holding it upside down,” Lila called from where she sat on the floor with Jace, sorting through a box of new books.

Colt smirked. “Am I? Or am I just seeing the bigger picture?”

Ryan snatched the manual from him. “You’re an idiot.”