“I didn’t think it was affection,” he growls. “I thought it was normal.”
I want to hit him. I want to kiss him. I want to crawl out of my own skin and scream until the vacuum of space takes me whole.
“She’s not normal, Valtron. She’s mine. Ours. And now her face is plastered across every datafeed from here to the fucking Trade Spiral.”
He flinches like I shot him. “I didn’t mean to?—”
“I don’t care what you meant.”
Silence coils between us. Thick. Acidic.
Kaelor peeks in. “Not to break up the very spicy domestic, but the arena execs are pinging. Hard. Management wants a sit-down interview to ‘shape the narrative.’”
Valtron snarls. “They can go suck my tail.”
Kaelor glances at me. “You?”
I’m already pacing again. “If we don’t get ahead of it, they’ll spin it for us. You think they won’t turn Ripley into some sob story or a goddamn merchandising opportunity?”
Valtron shakes his head. “They can’t force us?—”
“They won’t have to. Public opinion will. You’re a celebrity. And I…” I trail off. “I was the anchor who vanished. They’ll dig. They’ll sniff. And when they find out I’m not just your ex-fling—when they find out she’s your kid?—”
He’s across the room in two strides. His hand lands heavy and warm on my shoulder.
“Then let them find out,” he says low. “Let them try. Let them know I have something worth fighting for.”
I shove him off me. “You don’t get to be noble now.”
His voice hardens. “You think I don’t care? That I haven’t had to stand on a stage and flex and smile and pretend like I wasn’t wondering every second if you were alive? If she existed? If I made it all up?”
I blink fast. My throat closes.
Kaelor slinks out, muttering something about “too many feelings” and “needing a stronger firewall.”
I sit hard on the edge of the cot. My knees buckle too fast to argue.
“She was safe,” I whisper. “She was safe until today.”
Valtron crouches in front of me. His hands don’t touch me, but they hover. Ready.
“She still is.”
I shake my head. “You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
The silence drips down the walls like oil.
I press my palms to my eyes. “We’ll do the interview. Keep it calm. Keep it vague. No names. No details. Just... enough to stop the wolves from howling.”
He nods once.
Then stands.
And just like that, we’re moving again.
The studio’sprivate room smells like nerves and sanitizer.
