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Before long, Lacey and Scarlett were trading ideas about all the places they wanted to show Isabella.

“We have to take you down Fifth Avenue,” Lacey said. “And not just drive past it. You need to actually walk it.”

Scarlett nodded. “Then Broadway. You can’t live in Manhattan and never see a show.”

Isabella brightened. “I would love that.”

“Oh, we’re absolutely doing that,” Lacey said. “And downtown too. There’s so much I want to show you.”

“Other than what we did today, I’m a blank slate when it comes to Manhattan,” Isabella joked.

Scarlett laughed. “That just means we get to have so much fun showing you.”

“Agreed,” Lacey said.

From there it became a blur as the list kept growing.

I liked hearing Lacey and Scarlett talk as though showing Isabella their favorite parts of Manhattan was already a given. They weren’t treating her like a guest they had to entertain. They were pulling her into their lives.

Assuming she chose to stay.

The thought kept me from getting too comfortable with the picture. I wanted her with me. I wanted her in my bed and beside me when I woke up. But wanting those things didn’t tell me what Isabella wanted for herself, and I still wasn’t sure Manhattan—or the world I lived in—was where she ought to build whatever came next.

Lucian glanced toward Scarlett. “Seeing as you’re making enough plans here to keep yourself busy for the next six months, I’m thinking you don’t need to come to Boston with me.”

Scarlett shifted against him. “So you still have to go?”

“Aye. There’s no getting around that. But I could commute. Show my face there enough to deal with the situation. Uncle Jack expects me there, and neither Lach nor I is stupid enough to tell Uncle Jack to go fuck himself when the man practically owns Boston.”

“Speak for yourself,” I said.

Lucian gave me a dry look. “You can tell him. I’ll watch.”

That earned a laugh from Lacey.

Lucian turned back to Scarlett. “I can commute while I deal with whatever Jack needs from me. You could stay here instead of being dragged back and forth. It’ll mean increasing security at home, but with Lach there, I’m not worried.”

He glanced at me.

“Especially now that Isabella’s staying there too, I’m guessing you’ll have the building and a ten-block radius locked down tighter than Fort Knox.”

“If Scarlett stays at home, you won’t need to worry about her when you’re in Boston,” I said. “I’ll make sure she’s covered.”

Lucian nodded once. “I know.”

The simple certainty behind it meant he trusted me with his woman. There wasn’t much my brother could trust me with that carried more weight than Scarlett’s safety.

Scarlett was quiet for a moment, tracing her thumb around the rim of her mug.

“Getting some distance from my father was a good idea,” she finally said. “But I don’t want to spend the rest of my life arranging where I live or what I do around Andrew Hayes. That still gives him control, even if he isn’t in the room.”

Lacey nodded. “I agree.”

Scarlett sat a little straighter. “And after everything we uncovered about the trafficking network, I want to be here while we do something about it. My father helped protect those people. He used his office, his connections, and God knows what else to keep them operating.”

Her mouth tightened. “I want enough evidence against him that the next place he lives has bars on the windows.”

Lacey’s expression grew serious. “He’s not the only one who needs to be dealt with. There are politicians, businessmen, tech bros—people all over the world making money while women disappear into that system. Taking Delgado out didn’t make any of that go away.”