Harvey slides his phone out and turns the screen toward her.“You have packages waiting in Portland.”
Vesper freezes.“Those are ...my entire life.”
“Yes,” Harvey agrees.“I was able to re-route them to Mr.Wade’s temporary housing.”
“Why not my hotel room?”Cally glares at him.
“I didn’t think you’d like her to stay in a hotel,” Harvey responds.
“How about the house you’re supposed to buy?”Cally crosses his arms.
“I’m working on it,” Harvey replies, calm like always.“But you can’t just buy a house within twenty-four hours.Money buys a lot, but it doesn’t conjure real estate out of thin air.”
It doesn’t surprise me to learn that Cally wants to buy a house now.He usually doesn’t behave like his father.Arrogant, entitled.Not so high-handed he forgets people have needs and limits.Unless it’s Vesper.
Then he forgets everything and he throws the rules into the fucking ocean.He tries to bend the world until she smiles again.
I don’t blame him.I’ve done worse.
And the problem is—I can see it happening again.I can feel it winding inside me like barbed wire, every time she winces or pretends she’s fine when she clearly isn’t.Every time Cally looks at her like he’s seconds from proposing, or carrying her up the stairs just to prove he can.
We’re going to burn through her if we’re not careful.Both of us.For different reasons.With different kinds of wanting.
But we’ll still burn her.
So I breathe.I brace.I try to sound reasonable.
“Ves,” I say softly, “your dad has people.Capable people.Harvey.Margaret.There’s a staff.He won’t be alone.”
She gives me a stubborn look.
“And you,” I add, because this matters, “are not useful to anyone if you keep pretending your body is optional.Let us take you to Portland.You can come back in a day or two if you need to.But right now, you’re not staying here.”
Vesper’s eyes narrow.“Who made you king?”
I lean in just slightly.“No one.But I don’t need a crown to tell the truth.”
Cally makes a sound behind me—half laugh, half warning.“Careful, big guy.She’s going to bite.”
“I know,” I say without looking at him.
Vesper’s mouth twitches despite herself.“I hate you—both.”
Cally grins.“Liar.”
Vesper’s gaze cuts to him, and there’s a flash of warmth before it breaks into exhaustion again.“Both of you are acting like I’m?—”
“Like you matter,” Cally says, too blunt.
Vesper stares at him like she doesn’t know what to do with sincerity delivered like a punch.
Harvey clears his throat, politely ignoring the emotional landmine.“If you are departing, we need to move.Weather windows do not wait for personal breakthroughs.”
Vesper lets out a breath that shakes.“Fine.”
I stiffen.“Fine?”
She points at all of us like she’s doing crowd control.“Fine.I will go to Portland.I will retrieve my packages.I will not collapse in public.And you two”—she looks at Cal, then at me—“will stop acting like I’m a war prize or some delicate piece of china you have to guard.”
