GIDEON VALE
She hesitated.
It’s small. Almost invisible. Anyone else in this room would miss it. A breath caught half a second too long. A flicker in her eyes that didn’t match the steel in her spine.
But I don’t miss things.
I watch.
That’s what I do.
And right now, I’m watching Matilda Monroe stand in a room she has no business standing in… surrounded by men who could buy and bury her life twice over… and still choose not to shrink.
Interesting.
Dangerous.
Stupid.
All at once.
Her fingers curl slightly at her sides, like she’s grounding herself in something invisible. Her gaze flicks across the vehicles again, then to the men, then finally, back to me.
There it is.
That moment.
That silent, unspoken question.
'What exactly did you bring me into?'
I don’t answer it. I don’
