I don’t hesitate.
“After, it was about keeping you safe.”
That lands heavier.
She goes quiet for a moment, taking it in.
Then something shifts in her expression.
“The club…” she says slowly. “Someone helped me that night… when I wastoo drunk.”
Her eyes lock on mine.
“That was you.”
“Yeah.”
“And the lilies,” she adds, glancing toward them beside her bed. “That was you too.”
“Yeah.”
She looks at them for a second, then back at me.
“You’ve been around a lot,” she says.
“I keep an eye on what matters.”
Her expression tightens—not fear but overwhelm.
“That’s a lot,” she says quietly. “Everything you’re saying… it’s alot.”
“I know.”
I don’t push her.
But she doesn’t stop.
“How did you get into the auction?” she asks. “And why—” her voice tightens slightly “—why me?”
I exhale slowly.
“You weren’t the only one we pulled,” I tell her. “We got as many out as we could.”
Her eyes search mine.
“But you were my priority.”
That lands heavier than everything else.
“Inez?” she asks quickly.
“She wasn’t in your section when we breached,” I say. “We’re trackingher.”
“And Christina?”
“Got separated in the chaos.”
Her face falls slightly at that, the weight of it settling in.
