“Men like him are the real problem. Without buyers, there would be no reason for human trafficking to exist. He deserves everything that’s coming to him,” Julius said, like he had no doubt Corvane would be dealt with. I just wished I had the same confidence he did.
“So now that it’s all done, how do you feel?” Mika asked.
I thought about it. “I felt really good right after the speech. Like I finally put down something I’d been carrying for a long time, and that felt great. But then it was like I immediately picked it right back up again when Corvane showed up at our table.”
“Asshole.” Julius shook his head. “Such an asshole.”
“He is,” I agreed. “He said he was patient, and he said it like he meant it. Like he’d done this before, and he knows how it ends.”
“He hasn’t done this before,” Jackson said. “He’s never gone up against the Three Bears.”
“Crowe’s right,” Mika said. “And I say that as someone with a certain amount of personal experience with what these guys can do when someone messes with their people.”
I knew Mika’s story, and for just a minute, I let myself think about that. About what it would be like if my story ended the same way his did. With Corvane dead, and honestly, I didn’t hate the idea. I wasn’t sure what that said about me, but there it was.
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that,” Julius said. “But what you did last night took real courage. You went to that Gala even though you knew it was a risk, and you stood up and told your story to a room full of people.” He paused. “None of that goes away because Corvane showed his ass on his way out.”
The room was quiet for a moment while we let the truth of that sink in, because he was right. I did do that, and we raised a lot of money last night to help people who were in situations similar to mine, and that mattered, no matter what Corvane said.
Julius reached over, took a scone off the plate, and carefully put some of the jam on it. Then he took a big bite.
“Wow, these are very good.”
“Of course they are,” Mika said. “I made them.”
We all laughed at that, because Mika rarely took credit for how good his stuff was, and that was just enough to shift the mood and make me relax a tiny bit.
They didn’t stay long after that. Mika left the containers and gave me a big hug on his way out. Julius paused in the doorway and looked at me. Most of the time, he was all about the drama and the sass, but not now.
“Call me if you need me.”
“I know,” I said. “Thank you.”
He held my gaze for a moment, and then he looked at Jackson. “Take care of him.”
The door clicked shut behind him, and it was just us.
Jackson picked up his coffee and came to sit beside me on the couch. Not across from me, beside me, close enough that his arm was warm against mine.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I looked at the plate of scones. At the window. At my hands. At anything but him.
“I thought last night would feel like something ending,” I said. “Like I would give the speech and it would feel resolved, somehow. Like a chapter closing.” I stopped. “Instead, I just feel like I’m still in it. Like I’m always going to be in it.”
He was quiet for a moment, and then he took my hand. “Listen, I’m not going to tell you it’s over,” he said. “That Corvane is handled, and you can stop looking over your shoulder. I won’t lie to you.” He held my gaze. “But what I can tell you is that you’re not in it alone. No matter how long it takes, you’re not in it alone.”
I looked at him for a long moment.
“Last night,” I said. “When we were dancing, it felt like enough. Just that. Like all the rest of it was outside that ballroom and couldn’t get in.”
He didn’t say anything.
“I want more of that,” I said. “I know we can’t live in that space permanently. I know Corvane is still out there, and Chance is building a case, and the guys are making a plan. I know all of it.” I looked at him. “But I want more of those moments.”
He looked at me for a long moment.
“Yeah, baby boy,” he said. “So do I.”
