“You get one warning,” he says coolly. “Don’t call me that.”

Celeste doesn’t blink. She just smiles—slow, knowing, challenging. “Noted.”

There’s a beat of silence. Then, to my absolute disbelief, Big Bird grins. It’s quick, there and gone, but I see it. So does Celeste.

She leans back against the couch, looking satisfied, and for some reason, The Skyscraper suddenly finds the floor interesting.

Mo tilts her head, thinking. “We need to go slow and start with a topic she won’t immediately shut down. An emotional one. Gabriel is the perfect entry point.”

“She’s mourning him publicly,” Celeste adds, finally looking away from Lurch. “So we acknowledge that. Make her feel safe like we’re just there to pay respects too.”

“And then?” I ask, shifting forward.

“Then we remind her of what he was looking into before he died,” Orion says. “We talk about how he confided in people. How he had concerns about certain cases—”

“No,” I cut in, my voice low. “About my dad.”

Bennett nods. “And then we bring up Cassie. The lies she spread. Why she needed to turn the town against her in the first place.”

Selene rubs her arms. “And when she starts getting defensive, we drop the bomb about Bennett.”

Valkyrie perks up at the sudden change in Selene’s tone, tail thumping against the floor. I reach down, running a hand over her fur absentmindedly. “She won’t be able to dodge all of it at once,” I say slowly. “She’ll slip up trying to juggle it all.”

Mo nods. “And when she does, we’ll be ready.”

Bigfoot exhales sharply through his nose, pushing off the doorframe. “It’s a solid plan,” he says, almost reluctantly. “But you’re underestimating her. She’s going to sniff out a setup the second you show up unannounced. She’ll be on edge from the start.”

Orion crosses his arms. “You got a better idea?”

Gigantor tilts his head, considering. His gaze flicks to Celeste for half a second before he says, “Give me a day. Let me see what I can dig up.”

Celeste smirks. “And here I thought you were just here to stand around and look intimidating.”

Chewbacca’s eyes gleam with an emotion I can’t quite place. “I’m very good at multitasking.”

Orion groans. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

I scrub a hand over my face. We do not have time for this.

I just hope it works.

A tense silence lingers in the living room, the weight of our conversation pressing down like a heavy fog. No one wants to be the first to move, to acknowledge that we just set a collision course for a reality none of us are ready for. But time doesn’t wait for readiness. It never has.

“Alright,” Selene finally says, clapping her hands together like she can break the tension with sheer force. “Sounds like a plan.”