Melinda’s POV
The morning I decided to do it, the sky was perfectly clear.
No warning signs. No thunder in the distance. Not even the usual fog that sometimes clung to the coast outside our house like ghosts that didn’t know when to leave.
It was just blue.
Wide. Open.
Unbothered.
Which felt ironic, considering I’d spent the past two weeks dodging emails, spinning PR plates, reworking budgets, and fielding barely-disguised concern from investors who weren’t ready to say they didn’t trust me — but were definitely willing to question if I’d become “too exposed” to lead alone.
As if love had diluted my capacity.
As if motherhood had softened my steel.
As if I hadn’t built every inch of this empire by bleeding for it.
The foundation was holding. Barely.
We’d stabilized three of the
