CHAPTER 4 — The Engagement That Started Breaking
Victoria didn’t follow immediately.
She waited.
Watched.
Calculated.
That was what she always did when control slipped slightly.
Inside the private dining room, she caught Daniel alone ten minutes later.
“You embarrassed me,” she said softly.
Daniel didn’t look up from his phone.
“No,” he said. “You embarrassed yourself.”
That landed wrong.
Victoria’s smile tightened. “Because I commented on a child’s clothing?”
Daniel finally looked at her.
“No,” he said. “Because you enjoyed it.”
Silence.
For the first time, Victoria didn’t have an immediate reply.
Then she stepped closer.
“You’re overreacting,” she said. “This is a misunderstanding about class boundaries.”
Daniel set his phone down.
“Class boundaries,” he repeated.
Then he asked:
“Is that what you think she is?”
Victoria frowned. “Who?”
“The child.”
A pause.
Victoria exhaled lightly. “Daniel, you can’t build emotional narratives around every employee’s personal situation.”
That sentence hung in the air.
Because it revealed everything.
Daniel stood slowly.
“You think she’s a situation,” he said.
Victoria’s voice sharpened. “I think she’s not relevant to our lives.”
Daniel looked at her for a long moment.
May you like
Then said:
“That’s the problem.”
