"Why didn't you come to us?" she asked, letting her voice crack perfectly—real distress, real concern, the Maya he knew. "We were right there. Looking for you. I had medics on standby. You could have just—"
"Because I don't want anyone else to know what happened."
[PHEI'S BATHROOM]
The words hung heavy in the steam.
"When I hit back," Phei continued, "I want it to be personal. Between me and them. Not public. Not a spectacle."
"But Sierra—"
"If she knows, would burn their houses down by dawn. You know she would."
Maya was quiet.
She did know.
"She'd drag her entire family into it," he said. "Then it's Legacy war—political, public, the kind that destroys everything it touches."
"She'd want to protect you."
"She'd want revenge. There's a difference." He shifted, wincing as his ribs protested. "And then her family will look at me and see the nobody. The charity case. The temporary toy. They'd tell her to cut her losses and find someone suitable."
"That's not—"
