A few people smiled.
Sophia looked at the row of silverware.
Then back at Eleanor.
“Ordinary origins are forgivable,” Eleanor said. “Lack of self-awareness is not.”
“I agree,” Sophia replied. “Which is why I try not to let arrogance do the embarrassing.”
Daniel laughed under his breath.
Eleanor’s eyes sharpened.
“Sharp tongue. Occupational hazard?”
“Survival skill.”
Alexander cut his steak neatly.
“Mother, if you want dinner, don’t use my fiancée as the appetizer.”
The table went silent.
Eleanor looked at him.
“You’re getting protective.”
“I’m protecting my fiancée. Problem?”
Daniel leaned back. “She’s temporary.”
Alexander’s knife touched the plate with a soft, final sound.
“She is the woman I chose.”
The words were for the room.
They still landed somewhere dangerous inside her.
After dinner, Daniel cornered her in the hallway outside the library.
“You think he meant any of that?” he asked.
Sophia kept walking.
He grabbed her wrist.
She froze.
“Take your hand off her.”
Alexander’s voice came from the end of the hall.
Daniel released her slowly, smiling. “I was just speaking to her.”
“If your idea of speaking involves grabbing her, then yes, I’m reacting.”
Eleanor appeared behind Alexander.
“Must we turn every hallway into a scene?”
Sophia rubbed her wrist.
Alexander saw it.
His face changed.
“Your duty is this family’s image,” Eleanor said.
“Then start with the people who lie, steal, and betray,” Alexander replied.
Daniel’s expression darkened.
“What exactly are you implying?”
Alexander held Sophia’s gaze.
“Come with me.”
In the car later, Sophia stared at the city lights.
“You didn’t have to go that far.”
“I wanted to.”
“Why?”
“Because I hate watching you get cornered.”
She looked at him.
“You don’t have to keep doing that.”
“Then what? Watch?”
She looked away.
“Back there,” he said quietly, “you were looking for me.”
“No.”
“Let’s hope so.”
The next morning, their first live couple interview was moved up.
Nationwide.
Sophia stood backstage with a makeup artist powdering her face and a PR assistant feeding her fake relationship details.
“Who said I love you first?” the assistant asked.
Sophia blinked. “We never even had coffee.”
“The details don’t matter. Consistency does.”
Alexander adjusted his cuffs nearby.
Sophia turned to him. “Were you born like this or trained in a boardroom?”
“If I’m a report,” he said, “you’re the line item causing trouble.”
She almost laughed.
The interview lights were too bright. The host too excited. The sofa too small. Cameras moved like predators.
“When did your relationship begin?” the host asked.
“Earlier than people think,” Alexander said.
Sophia nearly choked.
“Who made the first move?”
“I did,” Alexander said.
The audience laughed.
He looked at Sophia.
For once, he did not answer like a strategist.
“Because she takes care of everyone,” he said, “and no one takes care of her.”
Sophia forgot the camera.
The host turned to her. “Sophia, what do you like most about Alexander?”
She should have said something polished. Disciplined. Public.
Instead, she said, “He doesn’t waste words.”
The host smiled. “That felt real.”
Sophia’s heart kicked.
Too real.
After the interview, Daniel was waiting outside the studio.
“Ten minutes,” he said.
“We really don’t.”
“Every time you ask for ten minutes, I lose more than ten.”
Daniel’s voice softened. “I know you hate me. You should. But I still love you.”
She stopped.
Slowly, she turned.
“You call that love?”
“You were the most important part of my life for seven years.”
“No,” she said. “You miss the version of me that cleaned up after you.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“Do you know why Alexander picked you?”
“Don’t.”
“He’s spent his whole life trying to beat me. Company, board, father, even women.”
Sophia’s face went still.
“You weren’t chosen,” Daniel said. “You were useful.”
Alexander’s car pulled up.
He got out immediately.
“Get in,” he said to Sophia.
Daniel smiled. “Fast response. Worried about her or the truth?”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
“Say that again.”
Daniel looked between them.
“Can you really say you didn’t use her to get under my skin?”
Sophia turned to Alexander.
There was the smallest pause.
And that pause was enough.
In the car, she did not speak.
Alexander handed her a file.
“Read.”
She opened it.
Emails. Family conflict. Board rivalry. Daniel’s history of using Alexander’s name, then undermining him. Their fight over European leadership. Years of competition disguised as business.