[Killian]
Victoria arrives at 6:40 with takeout from Nobu and a binder of venue options.
She's trying. I can see it in the way she's dressed. Casually, by her standards, which still means silk and cashmere but with her hair down and less armor than usual. She's attempting domesticity. The kind of evening a normal engaged couple might have: dinner, plans, idle conversation.
I pour her wine and listen as she walks through three venues Conrad has pre-approved. Her voice is practiced, efficient, the cadence of someone who grew up presenting at charity galas. Two postponements in eighteen months. The first time I cited a merger complication. The second, tax restructuring. Both were plausible. Neither was the real reason.
The real reason is that every time I try to picture standing at an alt
