She hugged her knees tighter, fury breaking through. “Basically, that everyone you love is a liability—especially me. And that liabilities get cut.”
I didn’t look away. “Everything I love is a liability here. Doesn’t mean I drop it.”
She didn’t answer, just dug her fingers into the sand. The wind pushed her hair into her face, and she didn’t bother to move it.
“Mila,” I said quietly. “Elise played us both. She had spyware installed on my phone.”
Her head jerked up. “What?”
“That recording—the one you received? It was spliced. She cut sections and layered them so it sounded like I agreed with Drew.” I clenched my teeth, the old burn of fury lighting behind my ribs. “I didn’t send it. I didn’t even know she had access until my PI talked me through how to find the virus and remove it.”
She stared at me as if she wanted to believe it but didn’t dare. Then she shook her head, a short, disbelieving exhale following. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Because it’s her style.” I reached for her phone, slow enough so she could stop me if she wanted. “Can I?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because if Elise tapped mine, she probably got to yours too.”
She hesitated then handed it over. My fingers brushed hers—small static contact, too charged for the moment. I unlocked her settings, fingers moving fast, muscle memory and rage in equal measure. A buried file blinked at me in the diagnostics—mirrored connection, same app.
“You have it.” I showed her the screen. “Same spyware. She’s been copying our messages, maybe tracking locations too.”
Mila went still. “You can get rid of it?”
“Yeah.” My voice came out rougher than I meant. “Already did.” I swiped through the final line of code, cut the connection, and dropped the phone back into her palm. “You’re clean now.”
Her hand closed around it slowly. “So this is how she’s been getting everything.”
“Not anymore.” I met her eyes. “Nothing is going to come between us.”
She exhaled, a shaky sound that could’ve been relief or heartbreak. “Until the next thing.”
I didn’t argue. Because she was right. But at least for now, we’d caught one of the knives before it landed.
The fight drained out of me slowly, leaving only the ache of everything we still hadn’t talked about.
Her shoulders shifted, as if the movement steadied her a fraction. Elise had aimed to leave her bleeding long after she walked away, and she had. I saw it—the doubt, the fear—and forced myself closer to center. “You’ve told me you don’t think your mom’s been honest since before Blackwood.”
“She hasn’t.” The word scraped her raw.
“Then maybe I’m not the only one raised on half-truths and threats dressed up as protection.” My tone dropped, steady, the one I used when I needed her to hear me without breaking apart. “Maybe the only good thing in this is us choosing each other anyway.”
A sound tore out of her that wasn’t a laugh and wasn’t a sob. “You make it sound simple.”
“It isn’t.” I let my knee brush hers in the sand. “But this part is.”
We sat breathing the same air until her grip loosened on her legs. Her hand drifted, fingers finding the edge of my shirt. I looped an arm around her back, pressing my palm into the sand—close enough to cage, careful not to.
“I’m not walking away,” I said, slow enough to nail down each word. “Not for optics. Not for my father. Not for Drew. Not for Lorne. Not because Elise thinks she knows the angle I’ll take.”
“Even if it gets worse?”
“It will.”
“Even if Dunn moves?”
“He already has.” I leaned in until there was only an inch between us, breath heavy enough to count as contact. “Tell me to go if you want distance. I’ll give you that. But I won’t take it from you.”
