“Well?” Lea urges harshly when Alastair hesitates to go on.

“My parents won’t have any reason to go after you If you are…brought into the fold,” he tries, evasively. Lea only narrows her eyes. Alastair looks to Oliver instead before he continues.

“If we were to have a formal dinner and I made it clear that you could be an assent rather than a competitor, I can’t imagine they’d want to waste time and effort going after a single cafe that is…” he ...