Once they disappeared, Palisade turned back to me.
I stood in the wrecked reception area, adrenaline still surging through me with rage and guilt fighting for dominance. The urge to go after those journalists hadn't faded, but now I was also grappling with the fact that Casey had seen me lose control.
The silence was deafening after the chaos. Palisade moved mechanically, picking up scattered paperwork, avoiding my eyes. I wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come.
From the break room, Monique's soft voice talking to Casey, the cheerful tone at odds with the wreckage surrounding us.
"I'll start making calls," Palisade said finally, her voice carefully neutral. "Police. My insurance. Your lawyer."
"Sadie—"
"Not now." She held up a hand, still not looking at me. "We'll deal with this. We have to. But not right now."
Something in her tone snapped the last thread holding me together.
"This is exactly what I was afraid would happen," I said, unable to keep the edge from my voice. "These people don't care about boundaries or privacy."
Palisade's head snapped up, her eyes flashing. "Don't you think I know that? I'm doing everything I can to protect her!"
"Are you?" I challenged, stepping closer. "Because I've been saying for weeks that your house isn't secure enough, that the clinic is too accessible. I offered solutions, and you shut them all down."
"Because your solution is to uproot our entire lives!" Her voice rose before she caught herself, glancing toward the break room. "Casey has routines, stability. She can't just pack up and move into your condo because some reporters are being aggressive."
"This isn't about reporters being aggressive," I countered, gesturing toward the rehabilitation room where Toby's cage sat. "Casey nearly got hurt today. She was terrified. And it won't stop, Sadie. Not as long as I'm in the public eye and she's my daughter."
Palisade ran a hand through her hair, exhaustion and frustration written in every line of her body. "So, what's your solution? We abandon our home? My practice? Everything we've built here?"
"If that's what it takes to keep Casey safe, yes!" The words came out more forcefully than I intended. I took a breath, trying to rein myself in. "Look, I'm not saying it has to be permanent. But until this dies down, you both need somewhere secure."
"And that place is your condo." Not a question. An accusation.
"It could be anywhere with proper security," I countered. "A hotel, a rental with a gated entrance, I don't care. But this…" Igestured around the clinic, "isn't working. And your house with its picket fence and complete lack of a security system isn't any better."
Her eyes flashed with anger. "I've kept Casey safe for six years without your input on home security!"
"Nobody knew she was my daughter!" I shot back, frustration building again. "Things have changed, Sadie. The world knows who she is now, and that makes her a target for people who don't care about her well-being, only about getting a story or a picture that sells."
We stared at each other, tension crackling between us. Our shared concern for Casey manifested in completely opposite approaches.
"If you'd told me about her from the beginning," I said, my voice dropping to a near-whisper, "we could have prepared for this. I could have protected her properly."
Palisade's eyes filled with tears, though her expression remained defiant. "I was protecting her! From exactly this kind of circus!"
The raw emotion in her voice stopped me short. For the first time, I saw past the resistance to the fear underneath. Not just concern for Casey, but a deeper fear of losing control, of having the life she'd carefully built disrupted beyond recognition.
I took a step closer, softening my tone. "I know you were doing what you thought was best. But we're here now, and we need to deal with the reality in front of us."
Palisade looked away, blinking rapidly. When her eyes met mine again, I glimpsed a vulnerability I rarely saw.
"I'm scared," she admitted quietly. "Not just of the reporters. Of everything changing too fast. Casey's world has already been turned upside down, discovering you're her father. Now the media attention, your wanting us to move… It's a lot."
I reached out slowly, giving her time to pull away. When she didn't, I took her hand. The gentle pressure of her fingers curling around mine eased something in my chest.
"I'm scared too," I confessed. "I've spent my whole adult life in the public eye, but this is different. This is Casey. This is you. I can handle them coming after me, but seeing them frighten our daughter today…"
Palisade squeezed my hand, understanding passing between us. "We need to fix this," she agreed. "Together. For Casey."
"Together," I echoed, feeling some of the tension ease from my shoulders.
