His gaze flicked, briefly, to my mouth. Then back.
“If you respond,” he said, “you really will make this a conversation.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You tell him he already has control.”
I let out a slow breath. “You’re enjoying this.”
This time he didn’t deny it. “I’m managing it,” he said, faintly amused. “Just like you.”
The silence between us stretched again—but now it wasn’t empty.
It was loaded.
My phone stayed face-down.
For the first time all day, I wasn’t sure I wanted to prove anything.
And Brewster—precise, infuriating Brewster—watched me like a man who knew exactly what he’d just done.
That was the last straw.
“No one makes these calls for me,” I said. “Not him. Not you.”
I turned for the door.
“I’m going back on the air.”
Chapter
Thirteen
BREWSTER
Mallory didn’t announce the decision again.
She didn’t need to.
By the time the producer’s name lit up her phone for the third time, the choice had already passed the point of debate and entered the realm of logistics. That was how she worked—once the frame was set, execution followed without theatrics. No speeches. No justification.
Just forward momentum.
Flint was supposed to be here before we left. That had been the understanding—network obligation wrapped in protective authority. He’d left that morning with a promise that sounded conditional even then. A meeting ran long. A delay at security. A call that couldn’t be rerouted.
Mallory hadn’t asked for confirmation.
She’d checked the time once. That was all.
I watched her from the doorway as she dressed for camera: neutral tones, clean lines, nothing that invited interpretation. No softness. No aggression. Authority without ornament. She knew exactly how to disappear into credibility.
That, more than anything else, concerned me.
Going back on the air wasn’t a reaction. It was a declaration of presence. And presence, once established, created obligations—attention loops, expectation, rhythm. You didn’t simplyspeakinto a system like that. You synchronized with it.
She was choosing a clock.
“Ten minutes,” she said, not looking at me as she checked her appearance in the mirror.
