Page 124 of Velvet Chains

“You want to play house with the DA? Fine. But you better make goddamn sure the doors are locked and the windows don’t rattle. Because if you’re bringing her into this, she’s in. And that means if she fucks up, if she gets soft, if she turns on us—she’s not just your problem. She’s mine.”

I didn’t flinch. “Then I guess you better hope she doesn’t turn.”

He stared at me for a beat, then clapped a hand on my shoulder. Tight grip. Steel beneath the skin.

“I do hope that,” Tristan said. “For your sake. For hers. For Rosie’s.”

Then he let go and turned toward the car, his coat snapping in the wind.

Liam stayed behind a second longer. Gave me a look I couldn’t read. Then followed.

And just like that, I was alone in the snow—my choices crystallizing like frost.

They weren’t just mine anymore.

They were ours.

Chapter Thirty: Ruby

Alek was parked outside my house ten minutes early, engine running, gloves on. He didn’t honk. He didn’t need to. I’d been pacing in the front hallway since dawn, watching the frost on the windows recede like time itself was peeling back the edges of something I didn’t want to see.

Rosie was spending the night at Julian’s, playing with her new toys, while I watched this house crumble around me. The cleaners were coming today—thank God—-so at least I didn’t have to worry about that. I locked the door behind me, shoved my hands deep into the pockets of my coat, and climbed into the passenger seat.

The silence between us was the loud kind—thick with everything we weren’t saying.

It was time. I couldn’t keep putting it off. I had to go see Lucy Darnell. I kept imagining her face. I’d looked her up. ColumbiaLaw, Special Counsel since '21. Every photo said the same thing: woman who does not waste time.

“You look like hell,” Alek said gently, eyes fixed on the road as he pulled away from the curb.

“Thanks.” My voice cracked despite the layers I’d wrapped around it. I’d gone with a navy pantsuit, plain white shell, low heels. No jewelry. No color. Just enough makeup to look like I was holding it together.

“You sleep?” he asked.

I shook my head. “You?”

“No.” He glanced at me, jaw tight. “This isn’t good news. I mean, I think there might be a way to contain it, but a special counsel interview is...not ideal.”

“You’ve always had a knack for understatement.”

“It’s what makes me such a good lawyer.”

I tried to laugh, but it wouldn’t happen.

“Has he been around?”

I shook my head. “Not since Christmas. But he did leave a present for Rosie in the mail.”

He furrowed his brow. “What was it?”

“A book,” I replied. “A Dr. Seuss book.Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are.”

“That’s a good book,” Alek said. “Are you going to give it to her?”

“I don’t know yet,” I said. “I checked the front page. He signed it. ‘From your friend, Key.’”

Alek nodded. “At least he didn’t write ‘from your dad’.”

“Small blessings, huh?”