Chapter 28 · he said quietly

Adrian caught my hand.

This time, he didn't grab my wrist. He laced his fingers through mine, palm to palm, making sure every camera in the room saw it.

The contact made the contract mark burn hotter.

His thumb brushed over my knuckles once.

A warning. Or a plea.

"Mara," he said quietly, "if I give you access, you can open the ledger. But you'll carry every legal action attached to it."

"Meaning?"

"Every record you decrypt becomes evidence against you first."

"Because I'm your wife."

"Because you're the only person the system will accept."

"And if the ledger says I helped purge my mother's memory?"

His jaw tightened. "Then Marlow gets what he wants."

"My license?"

"Your name. Your identity. Maybe your life."

I looked at our joined hands. His fingers were warm and rough. They shook just enough for me to notice.

"You're scared," I said.

"I'm trying not to be."

"That wasn't an answer."

His eyes held mine. "Yes. I'm scared."

The admission cut through the noise.

Adrian Rook didn't confess fear. He turned it into a threat, a bargain, a locked door.