More skeptical.
Less impressed by charm.
But I did not become hard.
That distinction mattered more.
Thomas Cole believed wealth made my family careless.
Margaret believed affection could excuse manipulation.
Adrian believed loving me later could somehow soften the fact that he approached me for money first.
All three were wrong.
The thing that saved me was not being a Mercer.
Money gave us lawyers.
Security.
Resources.
Useful, yes.
But money did not make me notice the bitter residue in a water glass.
It did not make a nervous deckhand warn me.
It did not make the nurse challenge an unsafe dosage.
It did not make the captain decide that loyalty to the owner mattered less than protecting the person in danger.
People did that.
Attention did that.
Courage did that.
And finally, I did.
On the anniversary of the wedding, I stood alone on the upper deck of the Mercer Star.
