Another pause followed, but this one felt different. 'Lighter.'
"He wouldn't agree to something he didn't believe in," Ethan said quietly.
She frowned slightly. "You sound like you expected this."
Ethan let out a faint breath, almost like a soft laugh.
"I didn't expect it," he said. "But I hoped for it."
Kathrine stared ahead, her fingers tightening slightly around the phone.
Your father agreed to work with me.
The words still felt unreal.
"I don't understand him," she whispered.
"You don't have to," Ethan replied gently. "He is not an easy man to understand."
Kathrine closed her eyes briefly.
For the first time, Marcus no longer felt like an immovable wall.
He felt human.
Complicated.
Unpredictable.
And perhaps… not entirely against her anymore.
"I still don't trust it completely," she admitted.
"You don't need to trust it," Ethan said. "Just trust yourself."
His words settled inside her, steadying her racing thoughts.
