Finn arrived at Blacktide in Callum's private plane and Callum's worst mood.

I met them in the west hall. Finn's tie was gone, one sleeve was torn, and anger had put color back in his face. He crossed the marble without slowing and pulled me into his arms.

For three seconds, the house could not reach me.

Then Leander said, very politely, "Mr. O'Connor."

Finn released me but kept a hand on my shoulder. "You kidnapped him."

"Yes," Leander said.

The admission disturbed Finn more than denial would have.

Vaughn arranged the meeting in the library. On the table he placed our marriage application, my false passport, and the investment agreement that had saved Finn's restoration shop four years earlier.

The investor was the Vandermeer Foundation.

I stared at Finn. "You knew."

"I knew a foundation bought the debt. I never saw this name."

Callum leaned against the mantel. "We used three holding companies. He couldn't have known."

"You bought my workplace."

"I kept it open," Callum said. "The difference matters to the employees."

Finn swung at him. Rhys intercepted the fist without hurting either man.

Leander did not move. His attention stayed on Finn's hand at my back.

Vaughn explained the fraud penalties in a voice suited to sentencing. Finn interrupted twice. I interrupted five times. By the end, everyone understood the marriage had been practical, affectionate, and legally dangerous.

"Did you love him?" Leander asked me.

"That is none of your business."

"You answered in Ireland."

"I was trying to hurt you."

Something changed in his face. Not relief. He would never permit himself anything so simple.

Finn looked at me. "Was I ever more than an exit?"

The room vanished around the question.

"You were my friend," I said. "The best one I had. I wanted the life we planned."

"But not me."

"I am sorry."

He nodded once. It was the motion of a man accepting a clean wound.

Leander took the marriage papers and tore them in half.

I slapped him.

He let the pages fall between us.

"You don't get to end my relationships."

"That relationship was already over."

"I decide when."

Finn stepped between us. "He's right."

I turned on him.

"About the papers," Finn said. "Not about anything else. Nolan Gray cannot marry me. Elliot Vandermeer doesn't need to."

The name sounded foreign in his mouth.

After dinner, Finn prepared to leave. On the terrace, sea fog erased the lawn. He pressed the shop key into my palm.

"For when you come back," he said.

The bow was wrong. A second, older key had been taped beneath it.

"Where did you get this?"

"Inside Callum's plane. He keeps a ring of estate keys in the forward cabinet."

"You stole from the man who flew you across the Atlantic?"

"You have been a terrible influence."

I closed my fingers around both keys.

Finn touched his forehead to mine. "Don't marry anyone for a door."

When he left, Leander waited in the library.

"You watched us," I said.

"Yes."

"Jealous?"

"Yes."

His directness stole the weapon from the question.

I walked to the desk, placing it between us. He followed. The edge pressed into my hips. His hands came down on either side, not touching me, his body close enough to change the temperature of the air.

"You have no qualification to interfere in my life."

"Then give me one."

His gaze fell to my mouth.

I could have moved. The space beneath his arm remained open.

I stayed still long enough to hear his breathing alter.

"No," I whispered.

Leander straightened at once.

He did not kiss me.

That restraint followed me upstairs more closely than his body could have.

In my room, I removed Finn's shop key and held the older one to the lamp. A small stamped letter marked its head.

B.

Basement.

Below the label, someone had scratched a second word by hand.