Ava’s POV For a second, nobody spoke. I wasn’t sure what shocked the room more—the missing acquisition proposal or Adrian believing me without asking for proof. The silence felt louder than any accusation. Adrian turned toward the board as though nothing extraordinary had happened. “We’re delaying the meeting by twenty minutes,” he announced calmly. A director immediately protested that investors had flown in from Zurich, but Adrian simply replied, “I know.” “The proposal is the foundation of today’s discussion,” another director insisted. Adrian met his gaze without raising his voice. “We’re delaying the meeting.” No one argued after that because no one challenged Adrian Blackwood twice. The boardroom erupted into controlled chaos as assistants called investors, Legal searched for backups, and IT rushed to investigate. I remained frozen beside the conference table, staring at the empty folder on my laptop. It wasn’t possible. I knew my routine by heart—draft, review, save, uploa
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