He looks at me. “Sage isn’t stupid. She knows good attorneys. She’ll self-represent if she has to. She’ll claim a psychotic break, try to plead half of it down.”
He pauses, choosing his words.
“She’s smart as she is unstable.”
Mark snorts. “Girls like Sage always land on their feet.”
Tony tilts his head. “You’re not wrong. She did have her good points.”
There’s a beat.
“I mean,” Tony continues quietly, “remember when she bailed my ass out? Or when that guy tried to sue us over that personal injury claim on the Fourth? She had those ambulance-chasing attorneys shaking in their boots.”
Dan nods. “She was terrifying when she was on your side.”
Seth adds, “She had moments.”
Silence settles—not comfortable, but honest.
Then Mark frowns. “Is she… gonna be okay, though? I mean, she got fired, right?”
I don’t answer.
Ethan—me—finally says, “Just don’t answer if she calls you. Block her email. Trust me. That’s not a door you want open even a crack.”
Tony glances over. “You gonna take your own advice, brother?”
I nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.”
Later, when the worst of the rubble is gone, I sink onto a chair and scrub my hands over my face.
“This isn’t supposed to happen to guys like me,” I say quietly. “I’m supposed to be the alpha. The hero. How the fuck did this happen?”
Tony’s uncle laughs—not cruel. Just real.
“Why do you think I’m on my third divorce?” he says. “My prenups are airtight. It’s the power of the?—”
“Don’t,” I cut in immediately.
He grins and shuts up.
Mark shakes his head. “I knew she was too good to be true the moment she latched onto you at that bar. Girls like he only live in fairy tales.”
“Or Stephen King novels,” Dan quips.
Tony snorts. “Please. You’re the only guy they ever go for.”
Mark blinks.
“She took one look at me and knew,” Tony says. “Nah. She wanted him.”
He nods at me.
“The golden one.”
I stare at the floor.
“You’re one of the good guys, Ethan,” Tony says. “You’re the hero. You build porches in a day, redesign kitchens, sing love songs and make rooms fall silent.”
