“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“Because I believed you would see his location and finally trust your own eyes.”
“You believed?”
“I hoped.”
Snow gathered along the shoulders of Lorenzo’s black jacket.
He made no move to brush it away.
“I should have told you sooner,” he said.
“You are allowed to be angry with me.”
“I am.”
“Good.
Anger is clearer than shame.”
Isabella looked back at the ballroom.
Guests turned their heads as soon as she faced them.
They had seen Lorenzo leave the head table.
They had seen him hand her a folder.
By morning, half the city’s executive circles would have invented a version of the scene.
She imagined walking back inside alone.
She imagined smiling through dessert, thanking guests, correcting the band’s schedule, and pretending her marriage had not just collapsed on a balcony.
Then Adrian’s message appeared again in her mind.
I’ll try to make it home early.
As though she were a chore he might complete if time allowed.
“What would you do?” she asked.
Lorenzo’s expression changed.
“That is not a useful question.”
“Why not?”
“Because I am not you.”
“You are a man people fear.”
“Fear makes certain decisions easy and others impossible.
You need a decision you can live with after the anger is gone.”
He pushed the folder toward her.
“The evidence is yours.
What happens next must also be yours.”
Isabella studied him.
This was the man who could end negotiations with one look.
Yet he was refusing to command her when she most wanted someone else to take control.
That refusal steadied her more than an order would have.
She picked up her phone.
“I’m calling him.”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
She pressed Adrian’s name.
The call rang once, twice, then went to voicemail.
She called again.
This time he declined it immediately.
Lorenzo’s face became dangerously still.
Isabella felt something inside her settle.
She typed four words.
Come to the dinner.
Now.
Adrian responded almost immediately.
Can’t.
Still with client.
Isabella opened the location app, took a screenshot for her own records, then disabled location sharing from her side.
She did not accuse him.
She did not send a photograph.
She did not give him time to invent a better lie.
