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And that's where things get complicated.

Because normally? Watching a billionaire buy the companies employing a journalist and summarily fire her would have every alarm bell in my head ringing at once.

Powerful men controlling the press?

Yeah. Not exactly my favorite fucking thing.

Had Mitchell fired Vance because she uncovered something true he didn't want published, I'd be the first person digging through every available record to find out what he was hiding.

Hell, I'd probably interview Ellie myself.

But that's not what happened.

Mitchell didn't silence a journalist for exposing the truth.

He stopped an unethical reporter from exploiting one of his people after she'd already crossed every professional boundary she should've respected.

And the distinction matters.

At least it does to me.

Maybe that's one more thing I'm learning about Mitchell Knight. For all his obsession with control—and Jesus Christ, the man has enough control issues to keep a therapist in vacation homes for decades—when someone he considers his responsibility is threatened, he doesn't hesitate.

He protects them.

Tank protected Dani because he loves her. Mitchell protected Dani because she was one of his. Part of the team. And apparently, the Rovers’ wives closed ranks around her because that's what they do.

I understand that more than I expected to.

Actually? I respect the hell out of it. Because there are lines you don't cross just because someone hands you a microphone and a press credential.

Being a journalist doesn't give me the right to humiliate someone.

It doesn't give me permission to manufacture facts.

It doesn't mean the people I interview stop being human beings because a crueler version of their story might generate more clicks.

Truth can hurt.

Sometimes it fucking should.

But cruelty isn't truth.

And journalism without integrity is just gossip with better grammar. So no. I don't feel sorry for Ellie Vance.

Not even a little.

What she did wasn't journalism. It was cruelty wearing a press badge.

And the strangest part is that I haven't even met these women yet, but on this? I'm already on their side. I'm on Mitchell's side, too.

That realization should probably bother me more than it does.

It doesn't.

Because agreeing with Mitchell doesn't compromise my objectivity when he's right. Pretending he's wrong just to prove I'm unbiased would. And if there's one thing I refuse to compromise for Mitchell Knight—or anyone else—it's the truth.

But I also know something else. These women protect their own. Fiercely.