“I will not spend the rest of my life translating cruelty into stress so that powerful people can remain comfortable.”
His mouth tightened. “I came here to make this right.”
“No,” I said. “You came here to make this survivable.”
Something passed between us then. Something brittle. The first crack through glass before the whole pane gives way.
He looked away first.
“She’ll apologize,” he said. “I’ll talk to her. Tomorrow. We’ll all calm down. This doesn’t have to become a catastrophe.”
There was the wordless plea inside that sentence. Not because he loved me enough to fight for me, but because he feared consequences he could sense without yet understanding.
I studied him for a long moment.
Then I nodded once.
“Go home, Derek.”
He looked relieved too fast. “Vivian—”
“Go home. Sleep. We can talk tomorrow.”
It was the most mercy I could offer him.
He left close to midnight. I listened to the apartment grow quiet again after the soft click of the door.
Then I walked to the office at the far end of the hall, shut the glass doors behind me, and sat before the long black desk where I had signed agreements that changed the shape of industries.