Alois grabbed my hand the second my heel hit pavement. Implementing our rules flawlessly from the jump. It shouldn’t have felt odd, but it threw me off kilter.
The world outside the car wasn’t quiet. It hit. Smacked right into me as voices layered over each other in uneven waves. The rapid-fire staccato of camera shutters snapped like electrical sparks. Someone called his name—loud, insistent. A flood of cascading questions followed.
“—Müller—!”
“—Who’s the girl?”
“—Alois, over here?—!”
I didn’t pull my hand away. I couldn’t. His grip wasn’t tight enough to hurt, but it was unyielding. Grounding in a way I hadn’t expected, didn’t want to acknowledge. His thumb shifted once against the inside of my wrist, subtle, almost absent-minded, but it sent a small, sharp awareness up my arm that had nothing to do with the cold Minnesota wind ripping through the buildings.
I straightened automatically, shoulders back, chin lifted afraction. Posture before panic. Running throw the checklist, I tried to calm my shaking nerves and hands.Walk in. Stay calm. Control the room. Don’t over explain. Don’t undercut. Don’t?—
A flash went off too close to my face, white-hot and blinding for half a second. My vision spotted, then corrected. The smell of something faintly chemical cut through the thin air.
Alois didn’t slow. He moved like stepping into a storm was routine and knowing it would break around him. Long strides. Measured. His presence did something to the space without him saying a word.
I felt all it, every nerve ending raw and exposed. Felt him. Every step we took pulled me deeper into it, into the heat of bodies and the push of attention and the expectation that I would meet it head-on without flinching.
My phone buzzed in my coat pocket, a small, contained vibration against my hip that somehow cut cleaner than the noise around me.
I didn’t reach for it immediately. Not until we hit the double doors leading inside, not until the sound changed—outside chaos flattening into the echo of a hallway and the low hum of fluorescent lighting overhead.
Alois released my hand as soon as we crossed the threshold. The absence of him immediate. My fingers curled reflexively, trying to hold onto something too fleeting to address.
I didn’t look at him.
I reached for my phone.
Lo’s name lit the screen.
Ezra sees the potential in you. So do I. Walk in like you belong—because you do.
I stared at it for half a second longer than necessary, thewords settling somewhere just below my thundering heart. Not fixing anything. Not erasing the pressure. But anchoring something steadier underneath.
Another buzz followed almost immediately.
This time, I didn’t hesitate.
Lucy: Dad filled me in on what happened. Are you okay? I’ve got Bento covered tonight—don’t even think about it. And… congrats on the job. You’ve got this.
I typed back quickly.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I locked my phone and slipped it back into my pocket.
“Ready?” Char asked, already halfway turned toward the press room doors like the answer didn’t matter. Her tone was smooth. Professional. Neutral. Her eyes flicked over me once, quick, assessing.
She was immaculate—sleek hair, tailored suit, not a single detail out of place, her expression cool and untouchable in a way that made warmth feel like a weakness she had long since outgrown.
I nodded. “Of course.”
Alois made a quiet sound beside me. Not quite agreement. Not quite disbelief.
The room revealed itself as we stepped into it, not all at once, but in sharp, disorienting pieces. The lights hit first. Too bright. Too direct. They flattened everything beneath them, stripping the space of shadow and softness until every surface felt exposed. I blinked hard against it, my vision adjusting just as the rest of the room came into focus around me.
Rows of bodies filled the space, closer than I expected, their attention already fixed forward. Cameras lifted in practiced unison, lenses angling, adjusting, narrowing in as we moved. The quiet mechanical sounds of them—clicks, shifts, the faint hum of equipment—layered beneath the low murmur of voices that never fully settled.