CHAPTER 139: A SMALL VICTORY

Suzy had always been reckless with her impulses. Wilson told her once that her tongue was her sharpest enemy, but tonight it wasn’t her tongue that betrayed her. It was her hand.

Her hand. Clutching Gavin’s like a drowning person seizing the first branch she could reach.

She knew she was insane, absolutely insane, for doing this. Not because of the horror that would start if anyone noticed, not because of the impropriety of clutching a man’s hand beneath the dining table like some desperate lover, but because it was Gavin.

Gavin, of all people.

His hand was rough, calloused, too warm. He tried to tug it free once, but she only clutched tighter. And there was only so much he could do without alerting everyone else.

She needed something solid. Wilson wasn’t here. No one was here, and she could feel the walls closing in on her ribcage.

Across from them, Alice eyes flicked between Suzy and Gavin, confusion tightening her face. And Hades, watching. It was as though he could already tell that something was happening between the two of them.

And Gavin... oh, Gavin was furious. His jaw tightened, the muscle jumping like a warning. He didn’t look at her, not at first.

He stared at his food as if it had personally offended him, but the way his knuckles flexed against her palm told her all she needed to know. His patience was thinning. When he finally turned his head, slowly, his glare was dark enough to flay her where she sat.

"Suzy..."

Her mother’s voice. Soft. Gentle. Calling her back to the world she had been so desperate to escape.

She ripped her gaze away from Gavin and turned toward her mother, her heart pounding so hard she was sure everyone could hear it. The dining room lights felt harsher somehow, like a spotlight on her shame.

Her lips were dry, but she forced them to part.

"I’m... I’m n-not interested."

It came out thinner than she had hoped. She wanted strength, defiance. Instead, it was trembling honesty.

Silence fell. A drop of it. Cold, absolute, suffocating.

Her father blinked at her as though she had spoken in tongues. Her mother’s fork clinked against the edge of her plate. And the Matriarch... the Matriarch looked at her as if she had grown a second head.

Not angry. Not yet. No, disbelief came first. A kind of stunned amusement that someone in her bloodline could reject what she had so graciously arranged.

The Matriarch tilted her head ever so slightly, lips curving into that practiced smile that was somehow sharper than any blade. "Not interested?" she repeated, her tone light, almost airy, like a teacher humoring a slow child.

"Y-Yes." Suzy swallowed. Her voice cracked, but she pushed on, surprising even herself as her grip around Gavin’s fingers tightened. "I don’t... want to meet him."

A ripple of silence washed over the table, thick and immediate. The clink of cutlery ceased. The warm light of the chandelier seemed suddenly too harsh.

But a chair creaked. Van. Sweet Van, who had thought the fun dinner monent had ended, suddenly perked up. His face split into a grin, relief spilling out of him like a child given back his favorite toy.

The Matriarch blinked once, twice, before her lips curved into a slow, incredulous smile. "What... does that mean, dear?"

Suzy’s fingers tightened even more around Gavin’s hand beneath the table. His palm twitched, a sharp, impatient pull that told her to let go, but she clung tighter. He wasn’t pulling anymore, not really. His frown was dark, thunderous, but he had stopped resisting.

A small victory.

"I..." Her throat burned, but she forced the words out. "I want to take my time."

God, her stomach was hurting now. She was sure this would lead to a bad case of indigestion. She wanted this to be over as soon as possible but all eyes were still on her.

"If I’m ever to marry in the future, it has to be with someone I—" she hesitated, cheeks flushing as the word escaped, "—feel butterflies for."

"...Butterflies?" The Matriarch’s voice cut like glass, brittle and sharp with disbelief.

She turned her gaze toward Suzy’s mother. "How have you been raising this child of yours?"

The air grew heavy. Suzy’s mother paled, as though she had been slapped across the face.

Suzy’s father bristled. His jaw clenched as he glared across the table. "I won’t sit here and tolerate an insult to our family."

Before anyone else could seize control of the moment, Suzy leaned forward, her grip on Gavin grounding her, fire lighting in her chest. "It’s my choice. I want to live freely. To marry who I want. Not to be pawned off every time you all believe you’ve found the ’best’ bachelor."

God, she was crazy. Challenging the Matriarch like this would not end well. But seeing how her parents were at least not fully in agreement this time, it was helping her.

A hush fell again. The boldness of her voice seemed to echo off the room.

Across the table, Alice... smiled. Not in amusement, not nervously, but with something startlingly close to pride. Her lips twitched as if she was trying to hide it, but the glimmer in her eyes betrayed her.

Beside her, Hades nudged her shoulder, not scolding, not silencing, but as though reminding her to compose herself before her support showed too much and she gets thrown into the spotlight again.

That tiny flicker of solidarity, the unlikeliest source of it, fueled Suzy’s fire.

The Matriarch scoffed, the sound deep and cutting. "Children," she muttered, shaking her head as though Suzy were no more than a spoiled girl pitching a tantrum.

But then, the Patriarch leaned forward. His elbows rested on the table, his heavy gaze pinning Suzy in place. His voice was calm, but it carried the weight of command. "Do you have someone you like?"

The room froze. Breath caught in Suzy’s throat. Even Gavin shifted in his seat.

Silence stretched, unbearable. Then, with her heart hammering against her ribs, Suzy whispered, "Y–Yes."