Page 174 of Secret Heir For The Billionaire Twin

“That sounds like you.”

Hannah looks toward Steve.

“Please don’t turn dinner into an earnings call.”

“I asked one question,” Steve says.

“You always ask one question and somehow we end up talking about infrastructure.”

Camille smiles.

“I’ve stopped trying to prevent it.”

The conversation moves on, and for most of dinner everything feels normal enough. Hannah tells us about her sister’s disastrous kitchen renovation. Steve complains about a new executive who schedules meetings at 7:00 in the morning because he thinks it demonstrates discipline. Camille laughs more than she has in days.

I do too.

Then the check arrives.

Camille reaches for her coat, and I stand to help her into it. She gives me a quiet thank-you, but her attention is already on something Hannah is saying. Steve watches us for half a second longer than necessary.

Outside, Hannah and Camille walk ahead toward the waiting cars while Steve falls into step beside me.

“You good?” Steve asks.

“I’m fine.”

The answer comes too quickly.

Steve looks at me.

I look back at him. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“That wasn’t nothing.”

Steve slips his hands into the pockets of his coat.

“You said you’re fine.”

“I am.”

He nods once. “Then you’re fine.”

He doesn’t push. That’s one of the reasons we are still friends. Ahead of us, Camille laughs at something Hannah says as they reach the curb. I watch her for a moment before closing the distance between us.

***

By Monday afternoon, Adrian is back in New York and sitting across from me in the executive conference room while Elena Voss moves through the final items on the communications agenda.

Elena has been running Global Communications long enough that very little surprises her and even less impresses her. She is precise, direct, and allergic to unnecessary theatrics, which is one of the reasons Adrian trusts her with anything that involves the public version of Blackwell.

She closes one file and opens another.

“The retrospective partnership is finalized.”

Adrian leans back in his chair.