Six months pass before the dust from the consortium's collapse finally settles into something resembling normal.
I sit at my desk on a quiet Thursday morning, senior broker status now confirmed, a title I still can't quite believe belongs to me when I catch it on official paperwork. Rosa Delgado stops by occasionally, no longer a client but something closer to a friend, always bringing something small from her bakery whenever she visits.
"Business is good," she says, setting a paper bag of pastries on my desk. "Turns out running a bakery is considerably easier when you're not terrified of losing years over a four-day payment delay."
"I'm glad," I say, meaning it completely.
Talia occupies the desk beside mine now, formally reinstated to full senior status, her own restructured debt fin
