My Fiancé Chose Her So I Chose Myself Chapter 37
After a fifteen-minute recess, the secretary projected a revised framework onto the wall.
Emergency medical support would not require prior written consent, but duty records would be mandatory. In non-emergency situations, no one could dispose of another person’s property, housing, or private link in the name of protection.
If a protection contact had interests tied to companies, subsidies, or public resources, those interests had to be disclosed.
Complaints would be handled by a third party, outside any private social circle.
The Lakecrest representative looked it over and asked one final question.
“What if no one is willing to serve as a protection contact?”
“The pack takes responsibility,” I said. “Protection is a systemic duty, not the act of handing one member over to another.”
The second witness was brought in.
Travis appeared in a dark suit, the public hearing room at Lakecrest council behind him.
He no longer wore any TerraGrid insignia, and he no longer had the expression of someone who naturally belonged in every room he entered.
“I support changing the rules,” he said. “Jenna’s protection registration was under my name. I didn’t distinguish between help and indulgence.”
The chair asked, “Did the old rules require you to give her another companion’s property?”
“No.”
“Did they require you to grant her unsupervised company authority?”
“No.”
“Did they require you, at the airport, to prioritize her care by leaving another member alone?”
All the color drained from Travis’s lips.
“No.”
The Lakecrest representative continued. “Then who made those decisions?”
He was silent for a long time.
“I did.”
Just two words.
In the past, he had spent three years, one company, and a resized ring without managing to say them clearly.
Now, saying them changed nothing.
Travis lifted his head.
“But if there had been independent oversight back then, maybe Natalie wouldn’t have left.”
I looked at the meeting materials and said nothing.
He still instinctively imagined the rules as a hand that might have held on to me for him.
The chair corrected him.
“This review is not about repairing your private relationship.”
“I know.” Travis’s voice was rough. “I just want her to understand that I’m willing to admit all of it now.”
“Ms. Whitman is under no obligation to respond.”
Travis’s eyes rested on my video window.
A few seconds later, he lowered his head.
“Yes. She isn’t.”
That ended his statement.
Before the screen went dark, the secretary received a late supplemental filing from the third witness.
Evan was requesting the chance to explain how Northstar had continued to target GridForge through this review of the protection rules.