CHAPTER 53

ITS ALWAYS A STRATEGY...

The drive home was quiet in that way Luke seemed to prefer windows up, soft hum of the engine, no unnecessary words. He didn’t ask much more about the meeting, and Abigail didn’t volunteer much. Not yet.

It wasn’t until they’d finished dinner that night, both seated in the warm light of the dining room, that Luke finally broke the silence.

“So,” he said casually, setting down his wine glass. “How did my wife handle her first day at the club?”

His tone was mild, but his eyes were sharp the kind that stripped away pleasantries and waited for the truth.

Abigail leaned back in her chair. “I handled it fine.”

One corner of his mouth twitched, like he found her answer both amusing and evasive. “Fine?”

“They weren’t exactly rolling out a welcome mat,” she admitted. “Most of them seemed to think I didn’t belong there.”

Luke didn’t look surprised. “They don’t think anyone belongs unless they’ve been drinking champagne from silver since birth. They’d make a princess feel like an imposter if it suited them. They wants someone who spends like she's brewing some sort of liquor.”

Abigail tilted her head. “Obetta was there.”

His gaze hardened just slightly. “Of course she was, I already told... I mean she’ve been there even before we had dated.”

“She… took her shots,” Abigail continued, her voice even. “But I didn’t give her the reaction she wanted.”

Luke studied her, as if weighing the truth in her words. “Good.”

Then, almost too casually, she added, “There was someone else, though. Carmen Lois Cruz.”

At the name, Luke’s expression shifted just a flicker, but Abigail caught it. His posture sharpened, his attention honing in like a blade finding its target. “Carmen?”

“She… defended me,” Abigail said slowly. “In a very… quiet, powerful way. She didn’t make a big scene, but everyone knew exactly what she was doing.”

Luke leaned back, fingers tapping lightly against his wine glass. “Interesting.”

Abigail frowned. “You know her?”

“I know her reputation,” he said. “Her family’s been in old money circles for longer than most of those women have been alive. She doesn’t waste words, and she doesn’t move without a reason. Every one if her move is well calculated, she makes no mistake at all.”

Something about the way he said it made Abigail’s skin prickle. “So what do you think her reason was?”

Luke’s lips curved, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “You tell me, how was i supposed to know that she defended you not me.”

Abigail hesitated. “I… don’t know. She seemed genuine.”

“Maybe she was,” he allowed. “But people like Carmen don’t choose sides without calculating the return. It’s never random.”

There was a pause, long enough for the air between them to shift.

“And you,” Luke continued, his voice dropping slightly, “should remember that anyone willing to step in for you might also be willing to use you, if it suits them.”

Abigail met his gaze steadily. “So what do you want me to do? Avoid her?”

His smile deepened, but it wasn’t warm it was the smile of a man already deciding the next move in a game only he fully understood. “No. I want you to get closer to her.”

Abigail blinked. “Closer?”

“Carmen Lois Cruz doesn’t extend protection lightly. If she’s decided you’re worth defending, I want to know why. And the best way to learn that is from the inside.”

There it was the possessiveness under the calm. Luke wasn’t jealous of Carmen, but he wasn’t willing to let any influence over Abigail go unexamined, like some scientist who had a favorite test to work on just himself alone.

Abigail crossed her arms. “You want me to play along with her? That’s… not really my thing.”

“It doesn’t have to be a game,” Luke said evenly. “It’s about positioning. If Carmen sees you as an ally, it changes how everyone else in that club sees you. It takes away Obetta’s power before she can use it again.”

She considered that, biting lightly on her bottom lip. “So you’re saying this is strategy.”

“It’s always strategy,” he said softly. “Especially in rooms like that.”

There was something in his tone a faint edge that told her he’d navigated his share of these silent, smiling battlegrounds long before she ever stepped into one.

Abigail set down her fork, leaning forward slightly. “And what happens if Carmen’s motives aren’t friendly?”

Luke’s eyes locked on hers. “Then she’ll regret thinking she could use you for anything.”

It wasn’t a threat to Abigail it was a promise aimed at anyone else who might try to pull her into their own schemes. And something in the way he said it made her heart skip.

Later that night, as they sat together in the lounge, Luke’s hand rested over hers, his thumb brushing slowly across her knuckles.

“You did well today,” he murmured. “Better than some people who’ve been in that club for years.”

Abigail gave a small smile. “I didn’t say much.”

“That’s exactly why you did well,” he replied. “Sometimes silence says more than words ever could. Sometimes we don't have to say too much to pass a message or even utter a word. Sometimes our look alone has to do the talking, especially in my "world." The way he had said my world like he laid more emphasis on that.

And though he didn’t say it outright, Abigail knew that Luke had filed away every detail she’d given him about Obetta, about Carmen and that whatever happened next in that club, it wouldn’t be left to chance.

She slowly drifted off to thought about Carmen, what kind of person she is and what was her reason for defending in the the presence of all other ladies….was there a motive behind it or was it just genuine? She really wanted to know more about what it takes to be in Luke's world. Both of them gave off the vibe of two people from two opposite ways who might not be a match, but that theory wasn't for Luke vandell in as much as he wants something, he doesn't care how much difference energy it gave.