"HE SAID HE ALREADY KNEW."
Mailah shot Grayson a surprised look at Oliver's revelation.
"I've known since the beginning," Grayson said quietly, meeting Mailah's surprised gaze. "I can sense surveillance. But Oliver was competent, and he didn't interfere, so I let him stay."
"You let him stay?" Elin's voice rose. "He was sent to spy on you!"
"And he stopped. That takes integrity."
"Or better strategy," Elin countered, but her voice lacked real heat.
"It wasn't strategy," Oliver said firmly. "It was a choice. To be loyal to the person I'd come to respect rather than faceless employers who clearly had their own agenda."
A heavy silence settled over the room. Shadow chose that moment to saunter in, licking chicken grease from her whiskers with absolute satisfaction, completely oblivious to—or more likely, uncaring about—the tension.
"Anyone else want to share?" Lucien asked, his tone somewhere between genuine curiosity and desperate deflection.
No one responded to him.
