My Fiancé Chose Her So I Chose Myself Chapter 35
The cross-territory joint meeting was held the next afternoon at the Copenhagen office.
Representatives from eleven packs sat along both sides of the long table. The Lakecrest council attended on-screen, and the Thames Riverside seat was to my right.
The chair opened by reading the recusal record aloud.
“Natalie Whitman will not participate in any case-specific disposition involving Jenna Collins, Travis Vale, or Evan Bennett. She will provide input only on cross-territory policy and the public record.”
The Lakecrest representative opened his folder.
“We acknowledge flaws in the old system. But Jenna Collins’s recovery ability genuinely falls below normal levels. If protection contacts are required to document every act of temporary help, support for those who truly need it will be delayed.”
“What counts as temporary help?” I asked.
“Food, housing, transportation, emotional stabilization, and necessary personal care.”
“Does that include entering someone else’s home and taking their property after the owner has explicitly refused to lend it?”
The Lakecrest representative paused.
“Of course not.”
“Does it include handing all five people’s luggage to a member who is actively ill?”
“No.”
“Does it include using a protection registration to justify undisclosed corporate authority and conflicts of interest?”
“No.”
I closed the agenda.
“Then the problem was never whether help should be timely. The problem is that the old system allowed protection contacts to cross boundaries and then end any challenge with a single sentence: *She’s vulnerable.*”
The room went quiet.
A representative from a Nordic pack frowned.
“Ms. Whitman, what happened to you was serious, but personal experience does not automatically invalidate an entire system.”
“Agreed.”
My answer made the Lakecrest representative look up.
“Which is why I’m not asking you to believe my feelings.”
Marissa projected the compiled public materials onto the screen.
First came Travis’s statement, where he admitted Jenna had unsupervised company authority and attached expenses and dates.
Next came the TerraGrid inquiry record, where he admitted he knew about the disclosure requirements but judged the issues unimportant.
Third came Jenna’s video, the one where she held the music box. Right after it came Brooke’s signed, witnessed statement.
Last came the court plea outcome and protective order.
“These records do not prove that vulnerable members shouldn’t be helped,” I said. “They prove that once help, property, company authority, and personal relationships are deliberately mixed together, accountability is the first thing to disappear.”
The Lakecrest representative began speaking quietly with the people beside him.
The chair looked at the screen.
“Bring in the first witness.”
Jenna’s face appeared before everyone.