Elara's POV
A silence.
Orion's eyes narrowed, very slightly. Something had landed that he needed to think about, and he refused to show it.
"You know who E is."
"Whether I know or not," Victoria said, "I'm not sharing it with men who show up uninvited with a Hermès bag and a checkbook."
She rose from her chair, unhurried, final. This was her conversation to end.
"If you want E, you'll have to earn that introduction by other means. I suggest you start by working out what those means might be." She looked between them. "This meeting is over."
She moved to the door and said something I couldn't hear. Two men appeared from somewhere in the house, large and quiet, with the practiced stillness of security who'd done this many times before.
Orion looked at them. Then he looked at Victoria
