A couple of people nearby start paying attention.
Good. Let them.
Wren tilts his head slightly. “What I’m proposing is regulation. Safety measures. Accountability. This is an issue for the town meeting anyway…”
“Don’t,” I snap, the word sharper than I intended. “Don’t dress it up like that.”
His eyes flick past me briefly, taking in the crowd, the attention, the optics.
Of course he is.
This is a performance to him.
Everything is.
“You’re emotional,” he says. “Which is understandable, given your… background.”
Oh, that was a mistake.
I snap tight.
“You don’t get to talk about my background like you know a damn thing about it.”
“I know enough,” he replies smoothly. “Enough to understand why certain… establishments might require closer oversight.”
I step closer—too close now. We both know it, and the air shifts into something ugly.
“You come near that place again?—”
“Finn.”
Aurora’s voice.
I ignore it.
Which is also a mistake.
“You think you can push us out?” I continue, low and dangerous. “You think we’re just going to sit back and let you?—”
“Finn.”
Her hand closes around my arm.
And suddenly I’m aware of everything.
The crowd.
The tension.
The way this could go very, very wrong.
Wren’s watching me, thinking he’s already won.
I hate that.
Ireallyhate that.
Aurora steps in front of me, which I don’t love. But also… yeah, I guess I needed that.
