Page 74 of Redline Communion

“She asks me. I decide whether to say yes based on whether I think she’s about to do something even stupider without me there.”

“That is not judgment I authorized you to exercise.”

“I’m not yours to authorize.”

The room goes still.

I know that.

The arrangement has terms, payment, expectations, and exit clauses, and none of those constitute ownership. Still, the sentence finds something rotten enough inside me to hurt.

“Does Ash know?”

Her jaw shifts before she can prevent it, which is another answer.

“He confronted you.”

She doesn’t confirm it.

She doesn’t need to.

“And?”

“He told me to stay away from her.”

I almost laugh, not because it is funny but because Ash has apparently learned nothing.

Then again, neither have I.

“Did you?”

“Obviously not.”

“Why?”

Talia looks at me for a moment like she is deciding whether I deserve the answer.

“Because somebody has to stop treating every bad decision she makes like proof she needs another person making decisions for her.”

The sentence lands harder than I want it to.

“You think giving her cocaine is respecting her autonomy.”

“No. I think pretending the only choices available are obedience or abandonment is bullshit.” She stands. “You should be asking why everybody around Lorelei keeps deciding what she can handle and then acting shocked when she finds another way to handle it.”

For a moment we are close enough that anyone passing the doorway might mistake the confrontation for something else.

Then Talia walks past me.

My phone vibrates before she reaches the hall.

I glance down.

HOUSEHOLD ADMINISTRATION: Talia Reyes — discretionary stipend suspended pending review. Private-wing access restricted effective immediately.

She hears the vibration and looks back.

I do not need to show her the screen.