Sophia snatched the gin from her hand and tossed it on the bed. “I can’t believe you— how could you think— how dare you just throw your money at my dreams? Do you know how long I worked and sacrificed and swallowed my pride to get a job offer like that, and you burst in here and throw it around like a punch line?”

Sophia fought the urge to dissolve into a wild scream. “You’re acting like those men who reap what they’ve never sown. How could you think I’d take something like this as some little bauble? After everything I was ready to sacrifice to keep you safe, to show you how much I value your values. Do you really think I’d accept something I haven’t earned just because you packaged it up with a bow on top and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Vic reached out to her, but Sophia slapped her hand away.

“I didn’t mean to sound cavalier,” Vic said frantically. “God, my father was right. I should’ve thought this through. I should’ve probably thought the whole thing through a little more, but I sort of fell apart without you today.”

“So, you bought a movie? Do you know how absurd that is?”

“Yes. And technically I bought a book, but yes.”

“You spent— I don’t even want to know how much— on a project the magnitude of which you cannot even begin to understand, to try to what? Undercut everything I said this morning?”

“No.”

“Self-sabotage your entire future?”

“No!”

“To give your parents heart attacks?”

“I know it probably appears that way, but I swear on all things holy, I did this for me, and for the future of my people, for a modern Northland, and for a chance at a title worth saving.” She sighed. “I did it because you gave me the courage to dream.”

Sophia snorted. “And you just happened to choose the same dream as me?”

“Except it’s not.” Vic stepped forward again, the earnestness in her voice knocking a hole in Sophia’s anger. “Yes, the dreams are related. They can and should work in tandem, but for me this isn’t about a movie. It’s about giving jobs, ones that aren’t tied to ancient titles or land grants, jobs that could outlast me. It’s about a new turn for an old legacy. It’s about making my birthright my own, and it’s your fault.”

“My fault?”

“You said you’d never forgive me if I caved to someone else’s vision of who I’m supposed to be. And you were right.”

Sophia gritted her teeth against both the compliment and the pleading behind it.