"What's your take on this, Mr. Joseph?" Raya asked lightly, a soft smile curving her lips as she turned her gaze toward him.
Joseph didn't hesitate.
He leaned back slightly in his seat, fingers loosely clasped, wearing the calm confidence of a man who knew how to speak when people were listening.
"I don't see any reason why a woman shouldn't choose what she wants," he said smoothly. "Including the name she decides to bear for the rest of her life."
There it was.
The perfect answer.
Chloe gasped dramatically. "Oh my God..."
"That's a man," Kiera finished at the same time.
The two burst into laughter, clinking their glasses together as if they had just witnessed something extraordinary.
Raya didn't laugh.
She simply looked at him.
She had seen this before.
He knew exactly what to say.
Exactly when to say it and how to charm people with it.
That was how Anna had fallen.
That was how Mila had fallen too.
