Ravi ducked out of NYC Fashion Week two days early to join Sora at her meeting with Anthony. He'd offered his office at Misra as neutral territory for the gathering. Once Sora realized that Hana had invited herself along, she was more than glad for the backup.

...

...

Ravi dragged a hand through his hair in obvious frustration.

"Don't do this, Hana. This is over. We're over. I told you that. I don't want to go nuclear on you, but I will if you insist on helping Anthony attack Sora over Tommy."

"You love me," she asserted confidently. Anthony grunted into his glass of whiskey as he watched the proceedings much as Sora did: as a spectator. How did we get on this subject in the first place?

"I do, but I'm not lying when I say stunts like this make me love you less."

"I just don't understand what changed. We were going to be happy." Ravi had come back to make amends and try again; Sora had proven they could never be the couple they used to be when they weren't even the people they once were.

Ravi gestured between them. "I changed, you didn't. You see how that means we don't fit?"

"I don't see how it means you fit with Sora. She's my sister."

Sora did her sister the courtesy of not pointing out the irony. She was making herself scarce in this argument for the time being.

"Sora and I have been a couple for months. We make each other happy. Our sons are happy. What else do you want?"

Hana scoffed. "This is revenge. I told Sora, this beneath her. You're both angry and disappointed in me, but this isn't the way to hurt me."

Sora's sniped down at her nails, "Because god forbid anybody's happiness not be reliant on you, Hana."

Hana cut her a burning look in response, which Sora accepted with admittedly smug grace.

"Hana, my relationship with Sora isn't about you. Yes, you're part of what brought us together; but, no, you're not what's kept us this way. She and I are a lot alike."

"That's such crap. I should know."

"I changed. Sora knows why and she understands."

"I don't understand."

"You don't have to. I don't explain myself to you."

"After all the months I spent doing that very thing just to get you to stay in the same room with me, you can't do me the courtesy of explaining?"

"I don't wanna lie to you. If I try to tell you, I'll lie. Lies are all that's left between us."

"I don't know if I can accept that."

"You don't have a choice."

"You heard him, Hana. He chooses me. He has chosen me for months. Do yourself a favor and let him go."

Hana's answering look was almost pitying.

"Sora, you don't understand. Ravi and I, we have history."

Sora had had more than enough of Hana's constantly invoking the decades of turmoil she and Ravi shared. She and Anthony had been together for fourteen years. Years were just a number when so much of it was misery.

"We all know that, Hana. Everybody knows. Ravi and I have months of friendship and years of putting up with you. We have shared pain and love, and mutual respect. I can't measure up to almost thirty years, but I recognize the value of what we do have. I won't give him up to satisfy your ego."

"My ego? We wouldn't be here if you'd give Anthony his company back and agree to equal custody of Tommy."

Now we're getting down to it. Anthony put down his drink and Sora got ready to stand her ground.

"First of all, Anthony doesn't have a place to live, and no living with you isn't the answer. My son isn't living out of a suitcase, he needs structure and stability. It's my responsibility to make sure Tommy feels secure and Anthony isn't in a place where he can do that. Until that changes, I'm not agreeing to shared custody. As for Himura Media Group, I was appointed to the CEO position by Tracy, your sister," she directed at Anthony. "My appointment was re-affirmed in a vote by the Board of Directors last month. I could sign over my 1.5% and nothing would change because you're not a majority owner and the Board's decision is binding. Your huffing and puffing is a waste of energy, and that goes for both of you."

"That's not the most important thing," Hana sing-songed in a voice that promised inanity and cruelty in equal measure.

Even Ravi rolled his eyes. "Enlighten us, Gallegos. Go ahead."

Hana squinted at Ravi before turning her penetrating gaze onto Sora.

"Ravi could die, Sora." Sora didn't care how Hana had found out, she saw red.

"Shut. Up." Only Ravi's restraining arm kept her from slapping Hana across her falsely earnest face.

"He could and it would destroy you. You're not that strong."

Sora's voice cracked. "You are hateful to say that to me. You'd rather he was dead than alive with me."

Ravi came up behind her, rubbing her shoulders. "She didn't mean that."

She whipped around to face him. "She's wishing you dead and you're defending her."

"Not defending her, protecting you. Remember what I said." She wants under my skin. Well, I'll show her how deep she got.

Sora turned back to her sister. "You're worried about me? Why? Because of my health? Because of my secondhnd heart? That's our big cousin's heart, Hana. Remember Sergio? Our hero, our protector. Our guard dog? Remember him? Do you even think about him anymore? I do, I do all the time. I have his heart beating inside me everyday. And, you know what, I have Ravi's heart, too, so you don't need to worry about me. I'll be more than fine. Ravi will be fine. We'll take care of each other, if you can imagine that."

"Sora's right. Let me worry about my health. If it becomes a matter for Dhiren, I'll discuss it with you. Otherwise, I want you to stay out of it."

Anthony stepped up to Ravi.

"You've got a lot of nerve talking to Hana like that, given the way you've treated her."

"It speaks," Ravi muttered under his breath.

Anthony smirked and it was an inch from being an unuttered threat. "Say something else."

Ravi deigned to shift his gaze from Hana to Anthony.

"The only reason I'm giving you the time of day is 'cause Sora asked. I would do anything for her or Tommy. You don't matter."

Anthony stood wide, squaring up against Ravi.

"I appreciate the hearty welcome, Misra. Where's my son?"

"Safe and happy in the Misra Childcare Center with Dhiren. What, did you think we'd leave him in the car?"

"Ravi," Sora chided.

"Sorry. You can discuss anything you like. I'll work." Ravi took out his sketchpad and got to work on a new sketch for the Defiant executives line at his desk.

"We can't even talk alone. You gotta be kidding me. Sora, tell this piece of work to let us have the room."

"Not a chance. One, this is his office, which he has so kindly loaned to us for the afternoon. Two, I want him here, just like you wanted Hana involved. We're all adults and we've all been divorced; we know how nasty this can get. All of us here together keeps everybody honest." And alive. Sora wasn't discounting crimes of passion at this juncture.

"All right, fine. Bottom line is, I want more time with Tommy."

"You see Tommy multiple times per week."

"It's not enough."

"That's what you agreed to."

"I changed my mind."

Sora raised a shoulder. "Too damn bad. You signed the papers. I didn't lie to you—unlike you who lied right to my face."

"How long until you get past that?"

"Likely never, so get used to it."

"You cannot use Tommy to punish me."

"Anthony's right, Sora. It's wrong."

Sora shot her sister a quelling look. Hana's opinion on morality was laughable at best, unrequired at the very least.

"I don't care enough to go out of my way to punish you. These are the terms you agreed to and I am adhering to the terms of our custody agreement. You seem to have difficulty doing the same."

"Because they're ridiculous and punitive and you can't do this to me. It's bad enough you took my company, now you're trying to take my son."

"You had him two days ago despite trying, once again, to file those fraudulent papers in family court. You're treading a fine line between merely being hateful and being criminal in a way that is punishable by law. Take another inch and I'll take steps to formally stop you."

"You'd sue me?"

"I could do much worse than that. I could put in a call to the District Attorney of Los Angeles and see how he feels about attempted murder."

Anthony laughed his disbelief.

"You doubt me? I wouldn't."

"Sora!"

"Hana, you're here as a courtesy to Anthony. Why don't you follow Ravi's example and make good use of your time by shutting up?"

"Don't speak to her like that."

"I'll talk to my sister however I feel she deserves. I've shown more kindness than her presence warrants under the circumstances and you know it, but I digress. You've heard my terms. I am not in the least opposed to Tommy seeing you more. I believe you love him and want what's best for him. What you and I disagree on is what is best."

"We're both his parents, we should be making these decisions together."

"When you consented to my taking full custody of Tommy, you gave me the power to make that decision all but unilaterally. This conversation is a courtesy."

"That's unacceptable."

"If you'd like to see Tommy more often, talk to Michael, submit an amendment to the courts and we'll see what happens. If a judge agrees, you've gone to all this trouble for nothing."

"That simple?"

"That simple. I won't even contest the verdict, provided it's reasonable." Sora approached her ex-husband confidently. "But let me make something plain. This maneuver you and Hana tried to pull will never happen again. Or I will play the mother of all trump cards against you, whatever the consequences, because my loyalty is not to you or any imaginary family you and I might have built. My first and final concern is for my son, and that is where it will forever lie."

Sora brushed her hair back over her shoulder. "We're done here."

"You don't get to decide that, Sora."

"I am exactly who gets to make that call. You know as well as I do that if we went to the mat, you'd lose an outright custody battle—money talks but facts don't lie. Don't make this uglier than it already is."

"You'll let me see him more?"

"That's what I said. Stop freeloading off of Sam, find yourself a permanent residence, and I will. You're an adult, Anthony. Time to act your age."

Anthony inclined his chin, saying nothing to the pointed jab. "That it?"

"If I find out you're badmouthing me to or in proximity of my child, we will go to court and you're going to realize how much of your continued good fortune has been grace on my part."

"Ravi must have built you a spine. Who knew the dressmaker had it in him?"

"I did. The real question, though, is what's happened to yours? Letting Hana make all your bold moves? Is that the King of all Media, Anthony Himura, who grabbed the publishing world by its throat? Where's he gone? I thought love was meant to bring out the best in you." She clicked her tongue. "Maybe for some of us."

Anthony narrowed his eyes.

Sora smiled serenely. She knew what it was like to be beaten, but even better she now knew how it felt to win.