The email arrived on a Monday at 8:12 a.m.Subject: Temporary Reporting StructureEffective immediately, while the East Coast restructuring is finalized, Ava Ellison will report directly to Roman Voss. All project approvals, timeline adjustments, and client escalations route through his office until further notice.I read it twice. Then a third time.Roman Voss was the founder. Julian’s father. The man who had shaken my hand at the company holiday party three years running with the same polite, assessing calm, and who had once told Julian in my hearing that he hoped his son “appreciated what he had.” After the breakup in March, I had expected awkward distance. I had not expected to be placed under his direct supervision.I walked to his office at 9:40 with the quarterly projections in hand and the residual heat of the email still sitting under my skin. The door was open. Roman sat behind the long walnut desk, sleeves rolled once, glasses low on his nose, the city visible in hard brigh
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