“Yes,”
I said softly.
“Much worse.”
Outside the F-22s held steady. Inside, something between us had shifted just slightly. The first crack in the wall he’d built.
Richard stayed silent for a long stretch after that last bout of turbulence. Maybe because he was trying to process everything. Or maybe because for the first time since I’d met him, he wasn’t sure his words carried weight in the room. Sometimes silence reveals more about a person than any argument ever could. Outside the window, the F-22 ahead of us tilted slightly, adjusting position. The sunlight caught its metallic skin, turning it into a streak of silver slicing the sky. Richard stared at it like a man witnessing something he’d only seen on television.
“You know,”
he said finally, voice quieter.
“I’ve met senators, governors, CEOs, titans in real estate. I thought I’d seen power. But this,”
he gestured toward the escort,
“this is something else entirely.”
“It’s not power,”
I said gently.
“It’s protocol.”
He let out a nervous laugh.
“Protocol, right?”
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