LUCIAN
A muscle ticked in my jaw. Tobias was testing my patience. Again.
I turned slightly, just enough to catch Tobias in my peripheral vision. He was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling in frustration. “Tobias, I appreciate the concern. I do. You’ve been my right hand for years, and I know you always have my back.”
This was me being in control, and he wasn’t going to f**k this up for me.
“But this isn’t about what people will f*****g say. I just need to speak with Maren.”
It was a lie.
And we both knew it.
He scoffed behind me. “Bullshit, Lucian. You don’t just want to speak to her. You’re pissed off, and when you get like this—”
I ignored the rest. I didn’t have time for his warnings or his attempts to reason with me. My patience was already running on fumes, and I wasn
