LOGIN"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."
She turned a page. No emphasis. "They agreed." No one in the room needed more than that. "Rotterdam," George said. "Two families," Alicia said. "Both meetings ran long. Same underlying concern, different language. We answered it both times. Follow-up is scheduled." "Documentation," Catherine sa
Edward's POV The term sheet had been in my inbox since the previous night. Four pages. Clean. Volkov's committee had approved the access deal exactly as the projection had asked for. Southeast Asia. The Gulf. East Africa. The network layer intact. The timeline fixed. Nothing negotiated down. I se
Edward's POV I stepped back into the hall. Every head turned. Not the polite acknowledgment of a CEO returning to his seat. Something else. Something that made the air feel thin. The room had gone silent. Too silent. Margaret stood near the table. Her posture rigid. Face unreadable. Vivienne'
The sound of the door closing was flat and absolute. I stayed in my chair, listening to the silence settle back into the room. I didn’t get up to check if Edward was really gone. I didn't go to the window to watch him leave. The air in the studio felt different now that he wasn't taking up any o
Then he was gone. I stood there holding his card. The absurdity of it hit me. My entire life had just imploded in front of two hundred people, and someone had just... flirted with me? I almost laughed. Footsteps again. Daniel. He walked over slowly. Stopped in front of me. His face was still
Alicia's POV The hall didn't explode after Edward left. It collapsed inward. Two hundred people sat frozen. Just staring at the door he'd walked through like it might give them answers. I stayed in my seat. Hands folded in my lap. Back straight. Breathing slowly, I could convince myself I was







