“When I Let Her Handle Her.”

Category: The World Around Them

POV: From Him

Subtitle:

She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t raise her hand.She just raised the standard—and made sure the woman could never reach it again.

Scene: Charitable Arts Gala | 9:12 PM

The woman had been circling Daniel for twenty minutes.

Touching his forearm during a joke.Leaning too close when the violins swelled.Dropping her wine, laughing, catching herself—right into his side.

He didn’t react.

Because Daniel Vale didn’t flinch at flirting.

He deflected with elegance.He stepped back just enough.He made his boundaries clear.

But he never stepped away from the woman he came with.

And Cambria noticed everything.

She didn’t say a word at first.

She was dressed in black velvet that melted against her skin, a slit running high enough to humble the room, hair swept up like a coronation. She knew she was the most watched woman in the room.

And still—she waited.

Because some things are not for snatching back.Some things are for reclaiming publicly.

When the woman finally said it—soft, low, just loud enough for Cambria to hear as she leaned toward Daniel again—“I remember what you used to like”—

Cambria turned.

One step.

No announcement.

She stood between them. Looked at the woman. Not angry. Not hostile.

Just… done.

And then, her voice—light, exact:

“You can flirt with anyone in this room with your carnival gestures.”

The woman blinked. “Excuse me?”

Cambria’s smile tilted. Barely.

“Bating your eyes. Spilling your wine. Touching their arms. Tilting your hips. If that’s the game you play to get a prize...”

She stepped closer.Whispered the next words—just for her.

“The thing is... I never had to do carnivals.”“And this one?”“Is already won. And mine.”

The woman’s face flushed.

Cambria turned her head toward Daniel, never taking her eyes off the woman.

“Did I say anything unclear?”

Daniel smiled, slow and sure.

“Crystal.”

Cambria stepped back with grace, taking Daniel’s hand in hers.

And before they left, she turned over her shoulder once more.

“Oh. And next time you remember something...”“Make sure you’re the only one who remembers it.”