LOGIN"Finish that sentence." My voice cut across hers. A beat passed. A shift crossed her eyes. Then she said it anyway. "Cleaned houses for people like us." The room went completely quiet. "My mother." I stopped. "Worked with her hands for people who believed that made her less than them. People exac
Alicia’s POV The pen was in my hand. I hadn't moved since the door closed. The page in front of me, the same line, and now I knew someone had been observing me return to it, watching long enough to count each return. I had spent three years believing he never saw the parts that weren't performed.
"He also mentioned Vera Sorel has made her attendance at the follow-up conditional on yours," I said, letting the other piece of the weight land between us. "He wanted me to know that." The pen halted in her hand. She took a breath, slow, through her nose, and the line of her throat moved once befo
Edward's POV Phillip arrived at twenty past ten. He settled into the chair across my desk and set his coat on the arm of it. The draft was already in his hand before he opened his mouth. "Signed and filed as of this morning. Your name on the minority position. Clean." He set a single folded page
"I don't know." "You said it to him. Not here." The pause that followed remained too long to be casual. "What are you afraid of?" I didn't rush it. "That I'm seeing it right. And it still falls apart anyway." She shook her head slightly. "That's not uncertainty. That's you refusing to close y
Alicia's POV Elena didn't turn when I came in. She was at the counter, spoon hovering over a bowl she hadn't touched in a while. The kettle had gone cold long enough to feel intentional. My bag hit the floor by the door. She didn't look at it. "You came back wrong." "I came back two days ago."
Alicia's POV The Riverside Convention Center seemed bigger than the day I was there. I lingered in the main entrance, looking up at vaulted ceilings that disappeared into steel beams and glass panels. Afternoon light poured through in geometric patterns across polished concrete floors. Mark appea
This morning, the Riverside Convention Center felt different. Alive. I stood in the back corridor leading to the main exhibition hall, listening to voices filter through the walls. Press setting up equipment. Staff doing final checks on lighting and sound. Ten minutes until the briefing. Elena a
Edward's POV She found me anyway. I'd chosen the back row intentionally. Furthest seat from the platform. Close to the exit. But her eyes swept the room as she walked down the center aisle, and when they reached me, they didn't stop. Didn't widen. Didn't falter. Just registered. Noted. Moved
"I don't care how I look." "You should." Her voice sharpened, blade-thin. "Waiting makes you vulnerable. Public uncertainty erodes power faster than failure. At least failure is decisive. Alicia's absence will be weaponized. By the board that thinks you're distracted. Competitors who think you're o







