LUCAS’S POV
The door separating the private executive lounge from the grand boardroom felt like the threshold between two different dimensions. On the other side, thirty millionaires were reviewing the post-closing administrative data sheets for the largest corporate merger of the fiscal year. Inside, the carpet was thick enough to swallow the sound of my phone as it lay on the floor, its screen still faintly glowing with the disconnected call from Dr. Carrington.
Eight-thirty-five.
He had timed it, of course he had. The old man had spent eighty-four years commanding every contract, every asset, and every human being within his orbit, he wasn't going to let a biological failure dictate his exit before the market parameters were legally settled. He had held his breath until the digital v
