I told myself the late meeting with Archer Everett was just business, the last details of the acquisition before the board signs off. But when his hand stays on the folder I hold, the long table between us starts to feel like a line I have already crossed in my mind.

Everything about him commands the room, and I have spent years building walls against needing exactly that kind of authority. The acquisition gives him every reason to keep me in that boardroom after hours. I lean closer anyway, even as my thoughts scream to pull away from the discipline I have always denied wanting.

I know the next word out of his mouth could demand the kind of surrender that would leave me raw and exposed over this very table. I stay long after the folder changes hands. Once the board signs, there is nothing left to hide behind.