Livia knew a command when it arrived disguised as an invitation.
The email came at four seventeen, just when the creative department had begun to exhale after a day of revisions. The subject line was plain: Corporate Dinner Attendance. The body was shorter than courtesy required and colder than the building's air-conditioning.
Miss Andrade,
Your presence is required tonight at the partner dinner for the Aurora Project. Eight o'clock. Private dining room, Laurent Hotel. Business attire.
Dante Vasconcelos.
No please. No explanation. No signature beyond the name that had once been able to ruin an entire day by appearing on a screen.
Livia read the email twice, then turned her phone face down on the desk as if the glass had offended her personally.
—Bad news? —Rafaela from branding aske
