The decision to respond publicly was easier to make than to execute.
Aurora discovered this the following morning when she sat down with Damian and Sebastian to discuss what responding actually meant in practical terms. A statement through Sebastian's media contacts. A carefully worded post on a controlled platform. An interview with a reputable publication. Each option carried its own weight and its own consequences and the conversation went in circles for longer than she expected before Sebastian finally said they needed twenty-four hours to think it through properly before doing anything they could not undo.
He was right. She knew he was right.
She went to bed that night still carrying the decision like something unresolved.
She woke the next morning to find Damian gone.
Not simply
