KENDRA
The next morning, I woke with an unfamiliar sense of calm.
I didn’t see Pascal at breakfast, though his absence lingered in the room like gravity. Part of me was grateful. The night before had cracked something open between us, and I wasn’t sure what to do with that quiet tenderness yet.
Today, I needed to focus.
By the time I arrived at the company headquarters, the day was already in motion. The board meeting had been rescheduled after last week’s chaos, and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. My name still drew whispers in the corridors. Whispers of half admiration, half doubt.
But doubt no longer scared me.
When I stepped into the boardroom, a dozen pairs of eyes turned toward me. The long mahogany table gleamed beneath the overhead lights.
Pascal was already there, seated
