Her gaze narrowed. “You look … calm.”
“I feel calm.”
She blinked. “That’s new.”
“I know.”
Her attention shifted past me then.
To Cassian.
He hadn’t moved from where he stood near the counter. Not looming. Not retreating. Just present.
Assessing.
Harper straightened slightly, instinctively bracing as she took in the scene—me at the island, Cassian a few feet away, the easy proximity between us.
Her gaze landed on him.
“So,” she said carefully, “you’re standing by her.”
It wasn’t a question. It was an evaluation.
Cassian met her eyes without hesitation. “Yes.”
She crossed her arms, studying him. “Even now.”
“Especially now.”
Her eyes flicked between us, taking in the space, the way I stood angled toward him without thinking, the way his attention tracked me even while he answered her.
“You resigned,” she said, turning back to me.
“Yes.”
“For him?”
“No.”
“For you?”
“Yes.”
She studied me for another long moment.
Then something in her posture softened.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “Okay.”
That surprised me.
“You’re not going to lecture me?” I asked.
“Oh, I still might,” she said. “Give me a minute.”
Luca appeared in the doorway behind her then, hands in his pockets, expression easy.
“Hey,” he said.
