Elena drove out to Leo's apartment herself, no security detail trailing her this time, no Alexander, just the two of them and a bottle of wine she'd bought on the way, because some conversations didn't belong to anyone else.
Leo opened the door looking wary, like he expected another version of the study confrontation. "If this is an intervention—"
"It's not," Elena said, holding up the wine. "It's just us. Can I come in?"
He let her in, and for a while they sat on his worn couch not really talking, the television playing something neither of them watched, until Elena finally set her glass down and said the thing she'd been circling for weeks.
"I need to ask you something, and I need you to actually answer it instead of deflecting."
Leo tensed. "Okay."
"Why didn't you come to me first
