“New badge," Emily said, clipping the plastic to Sarah's lapel like a pin to a flag. “Try to look terrifying."
“I'll settle for competent," Sarah said.
The elevator opened on the thirty-first floor to a different city—glass and hum, the chord of phones, the low percussion of keyboards. Frosted letters across the lobby wall read KNIGHT ENTERPRISES. In her last life she'd treated this floor like a museum. Today, it was a workshop.
Mason paced her half a step back, earpiece in, taking the measure of hallways like they could grow teeth. “Ops brief at nine," he murmured. “Fire marshal at ten. Legal at ten-thirty. CFO's blocked an hour at eleven. Lunch is aspirational."
“I like aspirational," Sarah said. She pushed through the glass doors.
Caroline Wu, CFO, lifted a hand from a war table th
