Juniper POV
The gala had started to feel like a cage. I’d been smiling for what felt like hours, nodding at sponsors who asked too many questions while Tristan kept his hand low on my back, his palm warm against the bare skin the dress left exposed. Every time his thumb moved in that slow, steady circle, it grounded me. Not in a fake way anymore. Just… there. Like he was saying without words that I wasn’t facing any of this alone.
But after the third executive asked if I was “stable enough for the Hale spotlight,” I needed air. Or at least a minute without eyes on me. I squeezed Tristan’s arm and whispered that I was going to the powder room. He nodded, eyes scanning the room like he was already calculating who might follow me.
“Two minutes,” he said quietly. “Then I’m coming to find y
