The invitation was for a charity dinner at the Voss family's estate, the kind of event where everyone wore too much jewelry and said too little that meant anything. Lucas had warned me about it a week in advance, in the careful, briefing tone he used for anything involving his world outside the house.
"You don't have to enjoy it," he said, fixing his cufflink in the mirror while I tried, unsuccessfully, to fix an earring. "You just have to survive it. Smile, say very little, and let me handle anyone who asks questions you don't want to answer."
"That's a very low bar."
"It's an achievable one." He came over and finished the earring for me himself, his fingers steady and warm against my neck. "You'll be fine, Julie. Nobody there matters more than you do."
I wanted to believe that. I mos
