I expect him to lash out.
Instead, he looks back at me.
“Is she worth this?” he asks, voice smooth as oil. “Worth your brother getting brave?”
I don’t answer right away.
Because the truth is inconvenient.
Lucy Bennett shouldn’t matter to me.
But she does.
Not because I want her.
Not because I need her.
Because she touched something in me that has been dormant so long, I forgot it existed.
Protectiveness.
I think of Claire’s voice, sharp and rare with emotion when she returned from Lucy’s apartment:
Don’t screw around with her, Mr. North. She’s carrying too much already.
I’d dismissed it at the time.
I don’t dismiss it now.
I set my glass down.
“I’m bringing her tomorrow,” I say.
Theo’s eyes widen slightly. “Oh.”
Caleb leans in, interest sharpening. “Where?”
“The foundation gala,” I answer. “High profile. Controlled environment.”
Richard’s smile returns, pleased. “Good.”
Theo’s gaze cuts to me, sharp. “That’s not why you’re doing it.”
I keep my face neutral, but I am feeling anything but. “It’s exactly why.”
Theo shakes his head once, slowly. “Sure.”
Caleb’s voice is quiet. “A soft launch?”
I nod.
If the press is already circling, visibility is containment. A public storyline protects her. Protects Northwell. Protects me from my father turning her into a target.
It’s strategic.
It must be strategic.
Because the other truth, the one pulsing under my skin, is that I want the world to see her and understand, without question, that she is not available.
