Emma barely slept.
Every time she closed her eyes, she found herself back on the terrace.
Her father’s face.
His silence.
His inability to answer the simplest question she had ever asked.
Why was I never enough?
The words seemed permanently etched into her mind.
By the time dawn arrived, she had managed perhaps three hours of restless sleep.
Not nearly enough.
But the world did not stop because her heart was broken.
There was a board meeting at nine.
A client presentation at eleven.
And approximately a thousand emails waiting for her attention.
So Emma got up.
Showered.
Dressed.
Applied enough concealer to hide the shadows beneath her eyes.
And went to work.
The elevator doors opened onto the executive floor.
Emma stepped out.
Her heels clicked softly against the marble
