He simply put himself between Alaric and Cosima, caught the older man’s arm, and stopped him — immovable, controlled, a wall rather than a fist.

“Don’t,” Caspian said, very quietly.

“Don’t ever lay a hand on my wife again.” And he held him there, without violence and without effort, until the doors opened and it was no longer his job.

State security and corporate officers came into the room and took Alaric Ravenscroft into custody — for fraud, for embezzlement, and for the unlawful confinement of his own daughter.

He was still shouting threats as they walked him out, threats that a decade ago would have emptied a room and that now landed on no one at all.

Cosima did not flinch at any of them.