Eleanor’s gaze stayed on him. “I used a simpler name because your world preferred women who looked decorative and unthreatening. It made business meetings easier. It made your ego easier too.”
A few people in the room shifted as though the truth had physical edges.
Judge Whitmore held up a hand. “Mr. Reeves will sit down.”
Julian did not sit immediately. He looked at Hanley, expecting rescue, but Hanley was already reading again, already seeing the shape of the ground changing beneath him.
Finally Julian sat.
Eleanor rested one hand on the table and continued. “When we married, I asked for privacy. My father had already spent my twenties teaching me what public visibility costs. I wanted a life I could live instead of one I had to perform. Julian said he understood that. He said he loved that I was not interested in headlines. He said he loved that I was more interested in building things than in being seen building them.”
Her voice never rose. That made it land harder.