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“He didn’t leave you. He didn’t have a choice.”

Her smile disappeared.

“That supposed to make me feel better?”

“No. It’s supposed to make you understand.”

I put the phone down between us.

“He’s trapped. Contract marriage, family control, legacy bullshit. None of this was his decision.”

She looked at Azaria’s frozen image again.

“You sure she’s that bad?”

I shrugged because the truth wasn’t as useful as what I needed Bianca to believe.

“I saw them taking her to the estate afterward. She looked rough, like she barely knew where she was.”

Bianca folded her arms.

“Well, damn. Guess the king fell off.”

I laughed. “Kings don’t fall. They get pushed.”

She turned toward me.

“What are you really trying to say, Laurent?”

I lowered my voice. “You still think those NDAs were okay?”

Her entire demeanor changed.

“What?”

“That money wasn’t enough for what you gave him.”

She frowned. “Don’t start.”

“I’m not starting anything. I’m telling you that you have power.”

Bianca looked at me more carefully now.

“You want revenge?”

“I want balance.”

She scoffed. “That sounds like revenge with better marketing.”

I reached over and ran my thumb along her jaw. She let me.

“You were his lawyer. You know where things are and how things move.”

Her expression changed again, and the woman sitting beside me wasn’t thinking about Ares as an ex anymore. She was thinking like an attorney.

“He didn’t let me in all the way like you think.”

I moved closer to her. “Thrones shift. Kings fall. Somebody always steps in.”