“Hey.”
He gave me a quick hug, then nodded at Cassian.
“Cassian.”
“Luca.”
No tension. No posturing.
Just acknowledgment.
Harper exhaled, dragging a hand through her hair.
“This is insane,” she muttered. “My best friend just resigned from her organization, publicly declared herself in love with a man who—no offense—represents everything she’s built campaigns against, and somehow she’s the calmest one in the room.”
“No offense taken,” Cassian said.
Her eyes snapped to him. “Oh, I wasn’t done.”
His mouth curved slightly. “I gathered.”
I bit back a smile.
Harper noticed.
“Don’t encourage him,” she said.
“I’m not.”
“You are. You’re doing that thing where you look at him like—” she cut herself off, exhaling sharply. “Never mind.”
“Like what?” I pressed.
She shook her head. “Like you’ve already chosen.”
I held her gaze.
“I have,” I said.
Silence settled.
Not tense.
Just … real.
Harper studied me again, longer this time. Then she looked at Cassian.
“If you hurt her,” she said evenly, “I will make it my personal mission to ruin your life.”
“Understood,” he replied.
“No, I don’t think you do,” she said. “I’m very resourceful.”
“I believe you,” he said.
Something in his tone—respect, not dismissal—shifted the energy again.
Harper noticed it, too.
