The plane home was a red eye.
Aria wrote for four hours.
Page forty-eight became pages forty-eight through fifty-three — the expanded scope section, the multi-company accountability network, the legal framework for coordinating whistleblower protections across corporate investigations. Ethan sat beside her and read as she wrote — occasionally asking a question, occasionally pointing at a paragraph and saying that one needs to be sharper or this is the strongest section, lead with it.
It was the best working relationship she'd ever had.
She told him that somewhere over Indiana.
He looked at her. "Better than when you were stealing my fingerprint?" he said.
She looked at him. "That was also a very efficient working relationship," she said. "Just unilateral."
He almost smiled. "Yes," h
