He has only avenged an insult while leaving the real threat intact.

So I let the glue be what it was — a moment of theater, a smile and a lifted glass, a small private message from me to Amber that said I see you — and I let her believe, for a few more hours, that the torn dress was the whole of my response.

Because a woman who thinks the counterattack has already come and gone is a woman who relaxes, who gloats, who takes the microphone and says too much.

The glue was not my revenge.