The hour before the emergency board meeting was the strangest, most surreal sixty minutes of my life. The world outside Sterling’s office was in absolute chaos—phones ringing off the hook, Maria’s voice a strained but steady bulwark against a tide of frantic calls, the digital roar of the press baying for blood. But inside the sound-proofed walls of his office, a bubble of intense, hyper-focused calm had descended. It was the unnatural stillness found only in the eye of a hurricane.
We were two generals in our command bunker, the battle plans memorized, the weapons loaded, the troops in position. There was nothing left to do but wait for the signal to go over the top.
Sterling finally let go of my hand, but the warmth and pressure of his grip lingered on my skin, a phantom promise. He wa
