By morning, the storm had passed. I left Adrian where he belonged: outside my schedule.
At **8 AM**, I entered Sterling Tower's primary boardroom. Twelve corporate litigators were waiting.
"There will be no negotiation. Recover the stolen assets and intellectual property, then file for commercial fraud."
On the panoramic screen behind me, a flowchart appeared.
"Send the original documents, timestamped emails, and revisions under the Sterling banner to the *Wall Street Journal*, *Bloomberg*, and the *Financial Times*. Include Chloe Jenkins's claims."
Articles appeared before lunch.
By noon, my name was back on Blackwood Group's landmark projects. Chloe's vanished from patents, press releases, and project credits. Her recycling-bin excuse circulated beside my dated drafts.
Investors s
