Chapter 14: The Price of Protection

"You're not seriously considering meeting with him," Amelia said, gripping her phone tighter as she paced across Gregory's office. "Ryan, Damian Cross doesn't offer partnerships. He offers leashes."

"I know what he is," Ryan said through the phone, his voice tired in a way she hadn't heard before. "But he also knows things about Victor that we don't. If there's a chance he's telling the truth about new allies, about what Victor's planning next, I can't just ignore that."

"Or he's using fear to pull you into something you'll regret." Amelia stopped pacing, staring out at the city skyline stretching endlessly beyond Gregory's window. "That's exactly how men like him operate. They create the danger, then offer themselves as the solution."

Gregory glanced up from his desk, listening carefully, his expression unreadable.

"I hear you," Ryan said. "But I still have a company to protect, Amelia. Contracts are collapsing every week, and I can't keep telling my board it's temporary."

Amelia closed her eyes briefly. Three years of marriage had taught her exactly how Ryan handled pressure. He absorbed it silently until it became unbearable, then he acted alone, convinced he was protecting everyone by carrying the weight himself.

"Don't go alone," she said finally. "Whatever he wants from you, don't agree to anything without someone else in that room."

There was a pause on the line. "Are you offering to come?"

"I'm offering advice," Amelia said quickly. "Not company."

"Right," Ryan said, and something in his tone made her chest tighten, though she couldn't name exactly what it was.

The call ended shortly after, and Amelia set her phone down, aware of Gregory watching her from across the room.

"You're worried about him," Gregory said.

"I'm worried about what Damian Cross might convince him to do." Amelia crossed her arms. "Ryan doesn't negotiate well when he feels cornered. He makes decisions fast and deals with consequences later."

"Sounds familiar," Gregory said quietly.

Amelia looked at him sharply. "That's different."

"Is it?" Gregory's expression stayed gentle, though his words carried weight. "You walked into that boardroom and exposed Victor without waiting for a safer moment. You're not so different from him, Amelia. You just channel the pressure in opposite directions."

She didn't answer, mostly because she didn't have one.

Her phone buzzed again, this time a message from Lucas. *Confirmed. You're on the guest list under the Hartwell Foundation sponsorship. No one will question it unless someone looks too closely.*

Amelia read the message twice, relief mixing uneasily with tension. She had a way into the gala now. But walking into a room designed to keep her out came with its own risks, and she knew it.

"The gala's still happening," she told Gregory. "Lucas found a way in."

Gregory nodded slowly. "Good. You'll need to be there, especially if Cross is circling both companies. Whatever he's planning, he'll want an audience for it."

"And Selene?"

"Selene will notice you the moment you walk in," Gregory said. "There's no avoiding that."

Amelia exhaled slowly. "Then I'll deal with her the same way I dealt with Victor."

Across the city, Ryan stood in his penthouse, staring out at the same skyline Amelia had been watching from Gregory's office, though neither of them knew it. His phone sat on the counter, Damian's number still saved from the call earlier that day.

A knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts. He opened it to find his mother standing there, her expression sharp with concern.

"You didn't call me back," Evelyn said, stepping inside without waiting for an invitation. "I heard you're meeting with Damian Cross tomorrow."

Ryan sighed. "News travels fast."

"News travels fast when the person doing it is reckless." Evelyn set her purse down on the counter, her eyes fixed on her son. "Ryan, that man doesn't build relationships. He collects debts. Whatever he offers you tomorrow will cost you far more than you think."

"I don't have many options left," Ryan admitted. "Contracts are disappearing. The board is asking questions I can't answer. If Damian actually knows something about Victor's next move, I need that information."

"At what price?"

Ryan didn't answer immediately, and Evelyn's expression softened into something closer to worry than judgment.

"You're trying to fix everything at once," she said. "Your company, your guilt, whatever this is with Amelia. You can't carry all of it alone, and pretending you can is exactly the kind of thinking that ended your marriage in the first place."

The words landed harder than she probably intended, and Ryan turned away, his hands braced against the counter.

"What do you want me to do, Mother? Sit back and watch everything collapse because I'm afraid of making the wrong decision?"

"I want you to stop making decisions in isolation," Evelyn said firmly. "Talk to people who actually care what happens to you. Not men like Damian Cross, who only care what they can take from your weakness."

Ryan's phone buzzed on the counter between them. He glanced down, expecting Daniel or another update about the contracts.

Instead, it was a message from an unfamiliar number, the kind that made his stomach drop the second he opened it.

*I know you're meeting Cross tomorrow. Careful who you trust in that room. Not everyone sitting across from you is who they claim to be. — A friend of your father's.*

Evelyn watched her son's face change, the color draining slightly from his cheeks.

"What is it?" she asked.

Ryan turned the phone toward her silently, letting her read the message herself.

Evelyn's eyes widened as she processed the words. "Who would send this?"

"I don't know," Ryan said slowly. "But whoever it is known about the meeting before I've even confirmed attending."

The two of them stood in silence, the city lights glittering beyond the window, indifferent to the warning sitting heavy between them.