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“I’m sure.” The answer comes easily. The apology doesn’t. “And I’m sorry for the position this leaves you in.”

Silence stretches between us. Sorry won’t protect her from what comes next. Her father will find another way to use her, another man to take her hand who’ll expect obedience.

Below, a container truck swerves too wide near the old haulage yard, and the driver corrects it seconds before the rear wheels clip the curb. Whoever it is, they’re in a rush.

“At least with you, I knew what I was getting,” Eilish whispers.

“Yeah, a husband who didn’t want you.”

“I know.” Her voice thins around the admission. “Because you’re in love with Sera.”

The liquor stops swilling in the glass and I close my eyes for a moment. The hurt in Sera’s eyes punches me clean in the chest all over again. I told her a lie because it’s the only way I can keep her alive.

“No, I’m not.”

Eilish lets out a long breath. “My father will need time to find someone else suitable. And in the meantime, I’ll need to figure out how to get out of it.”

“If you have access to your trust fund, use it before he promises you to someone else. Invest it. Build something in your own name that he can’t control. I’ll help you.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“Yeah.” I look out at the harbor again. “Your father will get over it. Mine will try to contain the embarrassment, but I’m not under his control anymore.”

“Are you sure about that?”

My attention moves to the dark strips of land beyond the Tallon gates. Below me is proof that I’ve built something my father can’t control. Yet he threatened Sera, and I haven’t gone near her since.

I own every pressure point around the Tallon docks, whereas my father found mine.

“I’m sure.”

Eilish goes quiet again for a beat, and I get ready to end the call. “I have to go.”

“Why won’t you just admit you’re doing this because of Sera?”

I take a mouthful of whiskey, considering my reply, and step closer to the window until my breath fogs the glass. “This has nothing to do with her.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t care what you believe.”

“Just admit it,” she continues. “If Sera hadn’t happened, we’d still be getting married.”

“I don’t agree.”

“Come on, Fionn. I’ve seen how you look at her. Sera told me everything.”

“This decision has been coming for a long time.”

“Maybe, but you only made it after she let you get close to her.”

The Tallon gates blur behind the rain rolling down the window. It’s been seven days since the charity event. I know because I’ve counted every one and noticed every fucking empty hour pass.

I knock back the rest of my drink and set the glass down. “Sera Tallon was not a decision.”

“No, she wasn’t,” Eilish persists. “She was a detonation.”

I run a hand through my hair and sigh. “She was a distraction.”