GAVIN
“You want to know what Parker’s real crime is?” I ask. “It’s not her résumé. It’s that she didn’t beg for your approval before being good at her job.”
Vivian says nothing.
“You don’t get to sabotage her because she didn’t kiss the ring.”
“This isn’t about her.”
“Of course it is.”
“No,” she snaps. “It’s about you. Letting your hormones compromise your leadership. You’ve gotten involved with someone you can’t protect. Not forever.”
I step back. There it is. The core of it. The threat.
She’s not just scared of Parker. She’s scared of what Parker represents—an emotional vulnerability she spent her whole life trying to train out of me. If I care for someone else, she loses her power over me.
“Well,” I say. “We’ll see about that.”
Vivian narrows her eyes. “If you let her bring th
