She and Peter had never been especially close, but they'd known each other for years.
She'd always pegged him as approachable, composed, rarely one to lose his temper.
Watching him now, though, Eleanor realized fast this was a performance.
He was leaning hard into the protective-boyfriend act, playing the part all the way.
Julian's version wasn't an act.
His protectiveness toward Cassandra never was.
A party that had started warm had curdled into a full standoff.
After a beat, Julian smiled first.
"Guess I'm just the diplomat, then."
Short answer, but everyone caught the subtext underneath it.
What exactly are you going to do about it?
Not much, as it turned out.
Whatever tangled history sat between Eleanor and Julian was, at the end of the day, family business not Peter's to r
