[Cassian’s POV]

The war council convenes four days later.

We gather around the kitchen table—Sophie, Adrian, and me, with Cleo joining via video call on the laptop propped against a stack of books. The evidence Marcus compiled is spread across the surface, organized into categories: documented victims, timeline of attacks, correspondence that reveals her methods. The papers seem to glow under the kitchen lights, each page a piece of the puzzle we’re desperately trying to solve. My stomach churns with a mixture of anticipation and dread—we’re planning a battle against an enemy who’s been waging war for years without anyone even knowing.

“Okay,” Cleo says, her face filling the laptop screen with characteristic intensity. Her eyes are sharp, focused, the look of a woman who takes threats to her people personally. “Let’s talk strategy. The symposium is in three weeks. If Adrian’s going to use it as an opportunity to gather evidence, we need to be prepared for every possible scenario.”

“What scenarios are we talking about?” Sophie asks. She’s positioned herself in the most comfortable chair, one hand resting on her belly where Maggie has been unusually active all morning. There’s a tension in her shoulders that I’ve learned to read—fear masked by determination, the same combination that’s carried her through every crisis we’ve faced.

“Scenario one: Lisette ignores him entirely. Unlikely, given her pattern, but possible. Scenario two: She approaches but stays careful, doesn’t say anything useful. Most likely. Scenario three: She loses control, says something incriminating.” Cleo pauses, letting each possibility sink in like stones dropped into still water. “We need to be prepared for all three.”

“How do we prepare for her staying careful?” Adrian asks. “She’s been doing this for years without making mistakes.”

His voice is steady, but I can see the strain beneath the surface—the way his jaw tightens, the almost imperceptible tremor in his hands that he’s trying to hide by clasping them together on the table. He’s holding himself together through sheer force of will, and something in my chest aches at the sight.

“Everyone makes mistakes eventually. Especially narcissists who feel challenged.” Cleo’s expression sharpens, predatory and certain. “From what I’ve gathered about her psychological profile, she needs to feel superior. Needs to see her victims suffer. If you present as happy, successful, unbothered by her attacks—that might destabilize her enough to provoke a reaction.”

“Provoke how?”

“Not directly. Just by existing. By showing up at that symposium with your career intact, your relationships thriving, your future bright.” Cleo’s smile is predatory, the expression of someone who’s learned to fight dirty when protecting the people she loves. “Narcissists can’t stand when their victims refuse to be destroyed. It challenges their entire worldview.”

Adrian absorbs this, his expression thoughtful. The afternoon light catches his profile, illuminating the lines of exhaustion and determination etched into his features. “So I go in confident. Talk about my consulting work, mention the family, act like she hasn’t affected me at all.”

“Exactly. Make her come to you. Make her be the one who initiates contact, who escalates, who loses control.”

Sophie shifts in her chair, something flickering in her expression—a shadow of fear that she’s trying to suppress. Her hand moves in slow circles over her belly, an unconscious gesture of protection. “And if she brings up the pregnancy? Uses that to try to hurt him?”

The question makes the room go still. The air itself seems to thicken, charged with the weight of everything we’re not saying. We’ve all been thinking about it—Lisette’s potential ammunition, the ways she might try to weaponize our unconventional family against us. The thought of her using Maggie, using Sophie, as tools for cruelty makes something dark and violent twist in my gut.

“She probably will,” Cleo admits, her voice softer now, acknowledging the wound before it’s been inflicted. “It’s too obvious a target. But that’s also useful—if she attacks your family situation in a public setting, it reveals her character more than any whisper campaign could.”

“I don’t want Sophie or the baby used as weapons,” Adrian says firmly. His voice has an edge I rarely hear—protective, fierce, the voice of a man who’s finally found something worth fighting for and refuses to let it be destroyed. “If she goes there—”

“Then you stay calm. You don’t engage emotionally. You let her expose herself while you remain the reasonable one.” Cleo’s voice softens slightly, understanding the impossible thing she’s asking. “I know it’s hard. But the goal here isn’t to win the conversation. It’s to document her behavior well enough to support legal action.”

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