We didn't let go until the van reached the Forum.
When we arrived, they'd already canceled the walk-through and adjusted the schedule. Kang moved the band into a secure green room. No windows. Two exits.
Rune stood in the center of the room, hands pressed against his thighs, trying to stop them from shaking.
"I'm okay," he said.
"You're not."
"I will be." He looked up at me. "Because you got me out."
I stepped up closer. "May I?"
He nodded, and I pulled him into my arms. He came willingly. His breathing steadied.
"Still real," I whispered.
We stood like that for thirty seconds. His heart pounded against my chest.
A knock on the door. Kang's voice: "Griffin. Call when you can. Privately."
I released Rune. "I'm okay," he said again. Steadier.
I left the green room and called Do-hyun. He answered on the first ring.
"The staffer. Micah Nakamura. Twenty-eight. Hotel events coordinator. Clean background. Statement describes the crowd surge. Someone pushed, and he fell. Doesn't remember who."
"Where's Soo-jin?"
"Unknown. Arrived 9:17, left 9:23. His assistant says it was urgent business." Do-hyun paused. "Griffin, the optics are terrible. Forty-seven pieces of footage posted. They show Rune panicking. It looks like you're all that is pulling him through.Your hands are on him. After the staffer fell, you moved Rune to the exit while everyone else tried to process what was happening."
"That was my job."
"Yes, but the narrative isn't about protection. It's about your proximity to the events they hired you to prevent."
A chill raced up my spine.
"Soo-jin doesn't need to prove you caused harm," Do-hyun continued. "He needs to show that keeping you correlates with severe incidents. This footage gives him that."
The strategy was simple.
"He didn't set out to hurt anyone," I said slowly. "He wants to make Rune too much of a threat to keep on the tour. He wants the costs, to reputation and insurance rates, to be high enough that removing him is the only logical choice."
"And if they drop Rune from the tour—"
"He becomes irrelevant. Shelved. Managed into retirement."
Do-hyun's voice was soft. "Where does that leave us?"
"Operationally? Intact. For now."
"For how long?"
"Until Seattle. Maybe less. We still have to make it through San Diego"
Do-hyun sounded resigned to fate. "There will be another incident."
"I know."
