What if this is just power fighting power?
What if I misunderstood everything?
Richard’s gaze flicks to me.
“Lucy,” he says, as if we’re acquaintances at a fundraiser. “You must be exhausted.”
My chest tightens.
Julian’s voice drops half an octave.
“You do not speak to her.”
Richard’s smile fades a fraction.
“You’ve tanked my board position,” he says to Julian. “You’ve undermined my partners. You’ve frozen accounts that took decades to build.”
Julian’s expression doesn’t change.
“I exposed fraud,” he says calmly. “If your reputation collapsed, it wasn’t my doing.”
Richard steps further into the room.
“You buried me,” he says.
Julian’s response is steady.
“I buried your business and revealed your fraud. Your social standing just so happened to follow.”
The words are precise.
Richard’s nostrils flare.
“And for what?” he snaps. “For her?”
He gestures toward me like I’m an inconvenience.
Like I’m temporary.
Like I’m the weak link.
Everything in me wants to lock up, make myself smaller. But I push it down.
I realize I need to see this. Because this is the moment.
This is where Julian chooses power or chooses me.
And the silence stretches long enough that fear crawls back in.
Julian turns slightly, not to face me, but enough that I see his profile.
“Yes,” he says.
Just that.
No hesitation.
No justification.
