Page 176 of His Good Girl

“The first time I kissed her,” he said. “That was when I knew she was worth the risk. But when Avery told me not to make her the reason I surrendered, I knew she was worth everything.”

No one spoke.

Then Benjamin muttered, “That line survives editing.”

Margo wrote it down so fast her pen nearly smoked.

The interview took ninety minutes. It felt like six hours. We talked about my parents, then about my father and Callum’s friendship and his promise to my dad without letting it turn into a sentimental trap. We talked about Rowe Structural’s reporting safeguards, about Dana supervising my role, about the fact that I had been hired on probation and would remain on probation like any other employee. Dana, when asked whether I was receiving special treatment, said, “If she were, she would be less tired,” which Margo laughed at and wrote down.

Margo asked me if I was afraid of backlash.

I thought about lying. Then I thought about Jules, the photograph, and how fear had made everyone smaller until we started telling the truth.

“Yes,” I said. “But I’m more afraid of letting people who want to hurt us decide that I should feel shame. I don’t.”

Margo smiled.

By midafternoon, the first arrests happened. I heard about them because Benjamin walked into Callum’s office without knocking,stopped in the middle of the room, and said, “I have news, and for once it is not morally ambiguous.”

I nearly knocked over my coffee cup. “Already?”

Benjamin lifted his tablet. “Two senior Lang executives were taken into custody for questioning after warrants were served at Lang Development and Rookline Advisory got the same treatment. Skylark Media’s president appears to be cooperating with federal investigators, which is to be expected when prison is on the table. Vale hasn’t been arrested yet, but Meridian’s office is currently experiencing what law enforcement calls a search and what I call interior design justice.”

“Jules?” I asked.

“Tom spoke with her attorney. Her materials are being treated as coercive leverage. She is not the target,” Benjamin answered.

I exhaled so hard it hurt.

Callum looked at me. “Good?”

I nodded, but my eyes stung. “Good.”

An hour after that, the mayor’s office released a statement.

Marcus read it aloud in Conference Room A while pacing so hard Dana eventually told him to sit down or apply for a transit permit.

“The City of Seattle remains committed to the Hartwell Civic Center redevelopment and will not allow unlawful interference, anonymous pressure campaigns, or illegally obtained private materials to influence a public procurement process. Rowe Structural Group has our confidence and remains the selectedstructural development partner pending standard oversight review.”

I sat between Callum and Dana and let the words move through me. I looked at him, and this time, in a room full of people, he let himself look back.

Benjamin, across the table, sniffed and said, “I would like to note for the record that I did not cry.”

Dana looked at him. “No one thought you did. Or could.”

“I was clarifying in advance.”

Tom, still pale but now glowing with legal adrenaline, said, “We’re not done. There will be hearings, injunctions, discovery. Possibly criminal proceedings.”

Benjamin sighed. “Tom, let us enjoy one crumb of victory before you serve us the casserole of procedure.”

By the end of the business day, theVanity Fairpiece was live online. It was fast, too fast to be anything but a coordinated strike wrapped in elegant prose and a flattering photograph Margo’s team had pulled from some charity archive where Callum looked severe and handsome. They found another image of me where I looked, mercifully, like a woman who knew what she was doing and I was thankful for that.

I stared at it on Dana’s phone. I read it aloud, voice shaking a little. “After an attempted smear campaign targeted his company and private life, the famously guarded billionaire opens up about love, loyalty, and why intimidation will not decide the city’s future.”

Callum stood behind me. I could feel him there before he touched me. He did not put his hand at my back, but his presence settled around me anyway, warm and steady.

“Are you okay?” he asked.