The room shifts.
Not much.
Enough that I know I should stop.
I don’t.
“I know what it looks like when a woman has to make a kid believe a locked door is enough. I know what it feels like being the kid listening to a man outside that door. So no, Amelia, I don’t owe you. But I owe somebody. Might as well be tonight.”
The words sit there.
Ugly.
True.
Too much.
Amelia’s face changes.
Not pity. Thank Christ.
Something worse.
Understanding.
I look away first.
Oaks clears his throat. “Well, hell.”
“Say one sentimental thing and I’ll knock your teeth out,” I tell him.
He grins. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Liar.”
Legend finally speaks. “Rules.”
I look at him.
He looks at Amelia. “This only happens if you agree.”
She nods slowly. “I know.”
“No,” he says. “You need to hear it. Nobody in this room decides your life for you. Not him. Not me. Not Derby.”
Her eyes flick to me.
I keep still.
Legend continues. “If you say no, we find another way. If you say yes, you still choose what that means.”
Amelia’s gaze drops to the table. “What would it mean?”
Whiskey answers first because strategy is easier for him than emotion. “Publicly, Derby is the man you came to. Privately, we build enough proof on Vale to keep him from using August as leverage. You don’t go anywhere alone for now. Derby is your visible guard. If Vale sends law, Derby’s presence complicates the abandoned-wife narrative.”
Sophie adds, “It doesn’t mean Derby gets to touch you whenever he wants.”
Amelia blushes.