Don didn't let the silence linger.
His gaze shifted from Claire to Jennifer, her smug smile angled like a blade toward someone who wasn't even looking back. It irritated him more than it should have. Enough that he no longer cared to weigh the question of "is this my business?"
He stepped forward. Not sudden, not hostile. Just smooth. Intentional.
The air between them changed. His face set—not with a frown, but with a cold neutrality that left little room for interpretation. Declan noticed first, his half-hearted grin faltering as he met Don's eyes. Jennifer followed, her lips curling around the edge of another laugh—only for it to die mid-breath when his gaze found hers.
They didn't understand why their laughter had paused. Why their stomachs pulled tight, or why their throats suddenly felt a shade drier. But their instincts did. The human body wasn't built to argue with a predator's stare.
